
Class 
Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



I 



SIX MONTHS 



IN 



KANSAS. 



M^ 



*^.; 



/^/ 






BY A LADY. 




BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND CO. 

CLEVP]LAND, OHIO: 

JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON. 

NEW- YORK : 

SHELDON, I5LAKEMAN AND CO. 

1856. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JOHN P. JEWETT AND CO., 

I n the Clerk's Ofiice of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



LITUOTYPED BY THE AMERICAN STEREOTYPE COMPANY, 
28 Phcenix Building, Boston. 



PRINTED BY D. S. FORD AND CO. 



TO MY MOTHER, 

WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN A TOEM, 

WISER THAN A PROVERB, 

THESE LETTERS WERE WRITTEN. 

TO ALL WHOM I LOVE 

IN DEAR NEW ENGLAND *, 

TO THE MOTHERS 

WHO AT DIFFERENT TIMES HAVE PUT ON A CHEERFUL COURAGE 

TO SAY " FAREWELL " TO DEAR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, 

PUSHING FORTH TO THIS FAR-OFF LAND, 

THEY ARE HERE TENDERLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 

INSCRIBED. 

Lawrence, Kansas Territory, ) ,^ . ^ 

April, 1856. j H. A. R. 



PREFACE 



The authoress went to Kansas in September, 

1855, and returned to Massachusetts in April, 

1856. During her absence she wrote the follow- 
ing letters to her mother, and, at tho suggestion 
of her friends, they are here presented to the 
pubhc, with but few alterations. She makes no 
pretensions to literary excellence, but asks the 
reader to remember the disadvantages under 
which these letters were written. The narrative 
is authentic. 

April 1856. H. A. R. 



CONTENTS. 



The Journey to Kansas, 9 

First Experiences in Kansas, .... 45 

The Missouri Invasion, 95 

Murder of Barbour — The Truce, . . . 129 

Winter Experiences and Observations, . . . 153 

Kansas Sufferers — Trouble Threatened, . . 182 

Miscellaneous Letters, 207 



SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS, 



JOURNEY TO ICANSAS. 

September 11, 1855. 

Dear Mother, — We are outside of Boston, 
feeling something like miweaned chickens, 
whose heads, if not wrung off, are at the best, 
worse for a blow. I notice the last guide- 
board says " Ashland." Now surely the smell 
is no longer the villainous odor of the Depot 
neighborhood ; or the noise, the rattling over 
Boston pavements. We are among the green 
fields, making a great steam and noise on our 
o^vn account, and borne along — as it is some- 
times good to be, by the submissiveness of 
our own will — by the fretting power of an 
engine. Our speed is not extreme however, 
and there is a murmur through the cars, that 
we are behind the time. Men grumble and 
consult their watches often; they wish to 
take a night train. We who stop at Albany 

(9) 



10 SIX MONTHS 

do not care so much. The heat is very 
oppressive and the dust covers us. Thanks to 
sister Eliza for the napkins in our basket. In 
the car is a water-tank ; we wet the napkins 
and wipe our faces, hands, and necks. How 
it. cools and refreshes us ! The napkins give 
proof what color we are, by their own dingy 
aspect. We rinse them, and dry them on the 
window-sill. 

The sun has been staring us in the face for 
a long time, as though he would look us out 
of countenance for running away from home. 
What a flood of glory about him ! I feel a ht- 
tle rebuked at his unwinking stare. I muster 
uj) from my memory all the reasons where- 
with I nerved myself to leave dear New Eng- 
land ; but they do not stand out so clearly as 
when first enrolled in my cause. Like me, 
they seem wilted by the heat and marred by 
the noise. 

But now the sun has gone down, and we 
are in Springfield — that is to say, in Spring- 
field Depot. I hope no one ever gave out 
word that he had seen a city or a town 
after whisking through the back side of it in 
the cars. We stop here for another train to 



IN KANSAS. 11 

pass, and to take in fuel. The lights are set 
burning, people gather back again into their 
seats and make themselves comfortable after 
their own fashion. Men have suddenly grown 
shorter. There is nothing of them in fact. 
Coat collars have gone up in a most ambitious 
manner; hats have settled do^vn humbly; 
there is nothing of them but the crowns. 
Here and there, also, the smallest apology 
for a knee braced against the seat, or palpa- 
ble evidence of boots hanging midway over 
the seat's end, make it rather a hazardous 
excursion through the alley-way. 

Our party numbers twenty-five, ten of 
them children, and five women, who are 
going to homes prepared for them and now 
occupied by their husbands and fathers. The 
babies are now quiet with the exception of 
one, a stout, healthful child of two years, such 
as Barnimi would rejoice in as an article of 
speculation. The mother is a gentle, attrac- 
tive woman, occupying a seat next to ours. 
How she is to get through this journey with 
the care of a child so heavy, is yet to be seen. 
Every time the cars stop, Httle EUa sets up a 
cry of indignation and injured innocence. It 



12 SIX MONTHS 

is electrical : there is a spasmodic motion be- 
tween the hatrcrowns and boots, accompa- 
nied with a smothered grumbling sound, lost 
in the onward progress of the cars. Little 
Ella is satisfied; flings up her arms, throws 
out her plump feet in a most jaunty manner, 
and passes into the land of dreams, unmindful 
of the weary, aching pain in her mother's 
arms. Was there ever anything so ludicrous 
as a car of sleeping passengers by lamphght, 
tossed hither and yon by the incessant mo- 
tion? Beautiful little Ella, you are the 
brightest of us all under the circumstances. 
The nodding spirit is upon me; and, so my 
dear mother, good night. 

Sept. 12th. — The hope of a good night's 
rest at Albany, kept us up till eleven o'clock. 
We were stiff and tired, and the children cross, 
as they had a right to be, waked up at that 
time of night. We went from the cars to the 
boat; from the boat into the dark night, 
through a silent street, entering, at last, doors 
which seemed to open in walls, and to lead 
nowhere, until steps were mounted, which 
seemed endless and hard to be got over. But 



IN KANSAS. 13 

they were at length finished, and we found 
ourselves in a dimly-lighted parlor, long, nar- 
row, and low, with a parlor carpet of otter 
color and muddy green, woven into frightful 
contortions of diamonds and squares: — a mid- 
night-looking apartment, where company was 
not expected nor prepared for. 

Chairs were brought, enough for all; the 
gas was turned xip more brilliantly; a pitcher 
of water and one tumbler were procured; 
the hands of the timepiece pointed to twelve. 
0, how tired we were ! v/ould the clerk never 
show us our beds ? He came in very pleas- 
antly, and remarked, with as much composure 
as though he was speaking of the weather : 
" Every bed in the house is full, — you must 
make yourselves comfortable till breakfast 
time ! " 

Twenty-five of us in one room, after riding 
from Boston ! My first twinge of homesick- 
ness was at Springfield when the sun went 
down. I now felt another spasm. The chil- 
dren were cross, the mothers in despair, the 
little woman with the big baby looked as 
though she would famt. 

My first thought was of personal injustice ; 

2 



14 SIX MONTHS 

the second was more practical. I took up the 
bundle of shawls, which had been such a 
trouble to us when we changed cars, feeling 
amply paid, in the wealth of help they now 
gave to make others comfortable. One was 
speedily folded mto a mattress, and as the 
chairs were stuifed haircloth, by thrusting my 
hand under one, it readily slipped out from 
the frame. It was speedily transferred to a 
corner of the room, the shawl covered over it, 
and the pale Httle woman laid away upon it 
for the remaining night-time, while the big 
baby, Ella, was spread in my lap, to be hushed 
off to sleep by the scraps of baby lullabies 
still hngermg in my memory, as sung by you 
when I was young. What a splendid great 
child ! How did that mother hve through so 
long a ride and this child in her arms ? 

The room was long, fortunately. The male 
portion of the party soon settled off into one 
end of it, with chair-bottoms for pillows ; and 
the women gradually spread themselves among 
the children, prophesying that they could not 
sleep, but yet yielding at last to "tired nature's 
sweet restorer;" and the children, too, did 
not, I presume, know the difference between 



IN KANSAS. 15 

his night and any other of their hves^ tent 
minutes after they lay about the floor. They 
never sentimentaHze. 

When the time pointed to two o'clock, baby 
Ella was laid beside her mother ; the rocking- 
chair back laid upon the floor; my cloak 
spread in it, and with Httle Ahce, kitten-lil^e 
rolled up by my side, I took my first lesson 
in Kansas camping. It was not half as bad as 
I expected. A night, even on the floor, will 
come to an end; ours did not commence 
till midnight, and morning light came in at 
the usual time. Our women looked quite 
tired out, and not a little ill-used ; but a good 
breakfast brightened us all up, and at half- 
past seven we took to the cars again. 

Consider us going back through those doors 
in curious places, the mystery attendant upon 
them all dispersed by daylight; ten small 
children, one more than the martyr Kogers 
had. Surely we were martyrs, what with the 
carpet-bags, the shawls, basket of provision, a 
child of our own, or of some other mother, 
tugging at our skirts, with incessant injunc- 
tions " not to let go," " not to walk so slow," 
the clamorous outcries of every other body, 



16 SIX MONTHS 

or party, in which of course we had no espe- 
cial interest, and to whom we were quite un- 
willing to waive any rights or privileges. The 
sudden determmation to mount the car-steps, 
(were there ever any so high from the groimd 
before ?) two children and one mother abreast, 
carpetrbag and basket included, pocket, too, 
filled with apples, et cetera — of course was 
a failure, and of course you took up the 
time of the next body behind ; and yet, you 
find yourself throimi^ as it were, up those awful 
steps, into the cars, by the terror of the oath 
in the rear, at your delay. Blessed be the 
proprieties of cars on such occasions; the 
refuge of the seats; the breeze stirred by 
their outward-bound motion. I take a long 
breath at the safety of us aU. I turn round 
to congratulate the Httle woman upon our 
triumph over difficulties, and she is not there. 
My heart is in my mouth. If she is not here, 
she cannot be in safety; wdio can take thought 
for her but me, with so much of their own to 
look after ? I look over all my matters, as if 
to make sure that I have not appropriated 
her with the baby, as a portion of my lug- 
gage. There sits x\licc in the safe corner, but 



IN KANSAS. 17 

she could hardly hover even a little woman. 
As for Ella, she is not of the sort to be hov- 
ered, now or at any future time. I conjure 
up the picture of her, left behind in that bed- 
lam of a Depot. What is to be done ? ah, 
there comes the knight-errant of our party. 
I will report. He makes a rapid tramp 
through the whole train, and returns; she is 
safe ! My heart settles down in its place, 
making the resolve, to look better after her in 
future. 

Now then for a peep at the country — Cen- 
tral New York, with its fine farms, its hills, 
reminding one so much of the best cultivated 
portions of Maine ; its canals, bearing along 
little arks, such as the old primer gave to us 
in a wood-cut of quaint device, as the espe- 
cial model of Noah's; its unmense fields of 
broomcorn, hanging its richly-tasselled heads 
in most wondrous profusion ! Ah, it was all 
very beautiful, and to me new ; but the dear- 
est memento I treasure in my memory of our 
ride through central New York, is the mullen- 
stalk, by the wayside. A rough and hairy 
leaf it has, a tall and coarse blossom and seed- 
vessel ; but down in the old pasture-lane we 

2* 



18 SIX MONTHS 

used to gather them at your command, my 
mother, to be hung in the garret, as a panacea 
when winter brought us sore throats. I take 
my last peep at the mullen-stalli in New 
York. I'm brave enough to say, it has 
stirred more emotion, more lasting thought 
within me, than anything I shall trace again 
to day. 

Evening picks us up at ; we are to 

travel all night. It rains, and the air is very 
close. We get tea, and beg the privilege of 
getting into the cars, though they do not 
start for two hours. This time, we are fortu- 
nate enough to get seats together. I have 
tucked away the luggage for the night. Two 
3^oung men of our party sit in front of us, 
and reheve me of the vaHse and carpet-bag. 
What a nice bed we have made. AHce is 
asleep. Little EUa, too, has dispensed with 
the motion of the cars for once, and lies oppo- 
site, at fuU length. The company have all 
settled off into a quiet sleep. I hear a smoth- 
ered sound, a gasp like Susie's when she fell 
down in the night by my bedside in a faint- 
ing fit. So much asleep am I, that it is diffi- 



IN KANSAS. 19 

cult to convince myself I am not going over 
another edition of that scene in a dream. 

dear ! the little woman has fainted ! She 
is in my arms. What a wake up there is! 
Even boots find their level on the floor ; win- 
dows that no one had strength to open, are 
thrown up without discussion; private little 
brandy-bottles suddenly appear from the most 
innocent-looking carpet-bags, and from the 
most staid-looking women. What a world of 
kind feeling a faint, even, will bring to the 
surface of the most indifferent group, when it 
is needed. I decide to keep to this woman 
till she has a little sleep. Every body goes 
off again ; the danger is over ; she sleeps qui- 
etly in my arms ; while, with my feet, I keep 
romping Miss Ella, from rolling on to the 
floor. 

Thursday morning, long before you are up, 
the cars make a ten-minutes stop in Her Maj- 
esty's dominions ; and you can fancy me step- 
ping out to an eating house, with my minia- 
ture tea-pot in hand, to get it filled with hot 
tea. I go at a venture, for they sell it only to 
breakfast-eaters; but it was a kindly-lookin^ 
woman whom I addressed, and she gave 



20 SIX MONTHS 

orders to the servant to "fill it to the full;, 
with as much milk and sugar as the lady 
lilved." Heaven bless her! I shall probably 
never see her again; and should I, I could 
not recognize her^ but by her voice. She 
gave me more than a "cup of cold water" — a 
warm and inspiring cup of tea, aft:er a sleep- 
less night ending in a lonesome, cloudy morn- 
ing ; and she shall have her " reward." 

Our ride in Canada was through a beauti- 
ful tall wood, and upon high table-land, level 
as possible. As w^e neared the lake, the 
country was level to painfulness. Water and 
shore a continuous plain, and water the color 
of dirty soapsuds. K all the lake-shore scen- 
ery is like this, I have seen all I care to see. 

Now we w^hirl along opposite Detroit. It 
is a pleasant break wpon the monotony, as 
we near the ferry-boat. A few moments 
bring us to the (to me, aivfid) depot proxim- 
ity. All sorts of unearthly sounds are about 
us; and people of every nation seem to be 
hmTying west. 

It seems as though one train of cars could 
never s^vallow up all these people. Six of 
our party arc seated. The baggage is not aU 



IN KANSAS. 21 

on board. Our conductor is resolute^ and will 
not leave it, and calls for us to get out. I 
have only time to put Alice out, my foot is 
on the step, there is a bedlam noise, when 
the cars start off as though they were mad, 
with me standing in a bewildered maze, 
with my hand on the door, my eyes gazing 
deep into that now superlatively awful de- 
pot, where little AHce, basket in hand, moth- 
er's cloak safe on her arm, stands demurely, 
with her own expression of sweet content 
quite unruffled. One of the young knightr 
errants of the party leads me back to my seat; 
and says, "They will be on in the next train." 
My seat looks too lonely for any long ride. I 
look round for some one acquainted with the 
road. There is a face close by; it is very 
intent upon a newspaper, but it looks up 
kindly to the question, " When will the next 
train leave Detroit for Joihet ? " and he was 
sorry to tell me, I should not see little Ahce 
till the next day! Now the blood leaps 
quickly, and thought is all astir. Wait till to 
morrow ? No ! Getchel is the prince of lads. 
We get out at the first station, we wait an 
hour, we take the next train back, and find all 



22 SIX MONTHS 

taking a comfortable dinner at a hotel. She 
said all the while, " Mother will come back," 
and at the somid of the car-whistle, came 
down to meet me. 

At five o'clock we took seats for Illinois; 
rode all night at a furious rate ; got out at 
Lake Station before dayhght, and were hud- 
dled into a dirty room, to wait till seven. I 
have seen nothing clean to eat, drink, or sit 
or stand upon, for some time. If there wa-s 
only a rock somewhere, that would, in the 
very nature of it, refuse to become impreg- 
nated with this universal nastiness; or, one 
of those glorious old walls, built by our grand- 
fathers, running in curious crooks and turns 
up and doAvn their domains, to which the 
dearest httle mossy forests cHng, and upon 
which many a weary wayfarer makes a seat, 
in the dust of travel, or to get ease from pain, 
when daylight deepens into darkness ! 

Fields of corn there are, rich m promise, 
and in extent immense. Now, too, the grand 
beauty of prairie scenery dawns upon us. It 
is quite impossible to give you any idea of 
its wonderful expanse, — the innumerable 
herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, whose 



IN KANSAS. 23 

distance from us can only be measured by 
their diminished size ; and the flowers — 0, 
how beautiful and numberless ! — such as you 
grow in gardens, are here sown broadcast, by 
luxurious nature's hand, in a most happy com- 
bination of colors, yellow, white, and pur- 
ple. This is payment indeed, for the previ- 
ous fatigue. I am only homesick, to-day, 
when we come to some of the most misera- 
ble apologies for towns ever set forth in 
station-books. 

On the open prairie, one has nature, in the 
open space of fields unfenced, in the wide 
over-hanging sky, all to one's self There is 
no need for talk; words jar upon the ear 
when the eye leads the emotions of beauty 
captive. The farm-houses, and haj^-ricks, speck 
the distance, as ships the sea. They do not 
interrupt the harmony; they are a part of the 
beautiful picture. But I could feel no more 
at home on a prairie, than on the sea ; there 
is nothing individual about either. 

When we arrived at Alton, darkness had 
settled down about us for the night ; so that 
we saw nothing by which to remember the 
flourishing town, always associated in my 



24 SIX MONTHS 

mind with the murder of Lovejoy, twenty 
years since. 

From the cars, we were transferred to a 
steamer, plying between Alton and St. Louis, 
twenty miles distant; thence to a carriage 
waiting on a muddy levee for us, under a 
driving rain; thence to a hotel. We were all 
very much in the condition of David Copper- 
field, when Mr. Dick suggested a "bath." 
And after securing a chamber, the next re- 
quest was for the use of a bathmg-room, 
which the house unfortunately did not pos- 
sess. Water, however, was brought in abun- 
dance. Already the anticipated treat was 
prepared for, when, imagine the astonishment 
with which we witnessed the dropping into 
the basin a Hquid precisely the color of 
dirty soap-suds! What was to be done? I 
sat down to decide which was the dirtiest, we 
three-days travellers in the heat and dust, or 
this forlorn dip from the Mississippi. As if to 
help me to a right decision, I went to the 
bowl and took a new survey. The liquid had 
certainly settled; the mud was not more than 
a finger deep at the bottom, and the basin 
was large. Now, then, I poured it off as care- 



IN KANSAS. 25 

fully as you would cream from a pan of milk, 
until the stir of the mud bade me stop. You 
should have seen me, mother of mine, squat- 
ted on the floor at midnight, comparing 
those two bowls. I could have cried at the 
remembrance of all the pebbly-bottomed, 
clear streams I had left in dear New England. 
Now, one bowl looked Hke the mud-cakes we 
children used to stir with a stick, in broken 
china, and spread in fancy forms of cakes, 
pies, and turn-overs, on the cellar window- 
frame facing the sunny bank of the old house. 
What had been poured off was a poor edition 
of the rinsing water which old Kachel used 
to be so choice of in the tubs standing under 
the well-sweep. 

But the escape from the first condition 
seemed so great, by comparison, that actual 
refreshment and rest followed an ablution in 
the second. To be sm^e I did dream of 
wading in dirty water, and worldng hard to 
dig a well in a sand-bar; but the morning 
found me laughing at my unsuccessful labors, 
and also busy with the preparation to go on 
board the steamer '^ Golden State, Capt. John 
GonsuUis," bound up the Missouri to Kansas 

3 



26 SIX MONTHS 

City, and other landings. The rain poured in 
torrents. St. Louis looked lil^e a dirty slatr 
tern, as we drove to the boat; and the tempe- 
rature was that of a close August day at 
home. 

Everything seemed new. "Old things/' 
had indeed passed away. Half the faces we 
saw were black. The horses seemed to have 
run quite entirely to ears and tails ; and such 
queer looking carriages ! The boat was 
another kind of thing, too, from ours at 
home. It looked all out of the water, and 
on that account awkward. The saloon is one 
hundred and thirty feet long, with nice little 
state-rooms on each side, opening not only 
into the saloon, but also on to the deck, with 
a blind to that door through which you can 
get whatever of air there may be astir, with 
the strictest privacy to your apartment at the 
same time. 

The weather is intolerably hot. I never 
felt anything like it. We have three dozen 
children on board. This saloon is the sitting- 
room and eating-room combined. The chil- 
dren have no resort, not even at meal-time ; 
and as the passengers are mostly families of 



IN KANSAS. 27 

emigrants, who are supposed not to be very 
rich, the children, have not, of course, any 
nurses but their tired-looking mothers. There 
are passengers, too, from Kentucky, Indiana, 
Illinois and Alabama ; well-bred, and ill-bred, 
gentle and simple. There is a large family 
of newly bought slaves — children, with their 
parents. I do not know where they pass 
their time days. My first view of them, or 
knowledge of their existence, was on going 
into the saloon quite late. The floor was 
quite covered with dark faces, sound asleep, 
of every age and size, down to plump and 
happy sleeping infancy. We have colored 
waiters, twenty or more, as well drilled as sol- 
diers. The table is spread mth great variety 
and abundance at every meal ; and the mo- 
tion of a boat over " six feet scant " of water, 
is not sufficient to destroy the appetite. 

Sejpt litJi. — The Sabbath has been very 
quiet on board. Prayer books are in the hands 
of many of the passengers and boatmen. I 
have watched with some curiosity the difierent 
elements that settle off in eddies. I hear some 
snapping of smaU-arms between the slavery 



28 SIX MONTHS 

and anti-slavery commons. Tliere is not a good 
spirit shown on either side. The subject is 
very great^ but the combatants are puny; 
they cannot look over it fairly, because they 
are not tall enough ; or at each other justly, 
because they are prejudiced. A David, with 
a sling and trifling stone, could aim with 
effect where these fail with loud and angry 
words. 

dear, I wish they would not talk. I be- 
lieve I hate petty argument. It leaves each 
stronger m his own view. But perhaps it is 
because I am a woman, and, woman-like, 
jump to a conclusion without the drudgery of 
measuring the intermediate steps. 

Now, the aspect of things at the upper end 
of the saloon changes for the better. There 
is the voice of a woman surely; others are 
calmed by it. The voice is very sweet, and 
the face a goodly one; the dialect pm-ely 
New England. I have noticed this woman 
often : her face is remarkably fine ; her per- 
son large, and well proportioned; she has 
two fine boys with her, to make Kansas men 
of; and she goes to meet her husband. Happy 
woman! Her manner is simple; her words 



IN KANSAS. 29 

without extravagance. Like oil^ they smooth 
the rumpled feathers of antagonism. She 
explains how^ without being paupers, we emi- 
grate in companies, for better security against 
homesickness, and for the continuance of New 
England institutions. Mother, she is just such 
a woman as you would like. Such as, sitting 
in the shade of her home, even though it be 
but a rude cabin or a tent, will, through her 
children, tell upon the character of the next 
generation with a force greater than that of 
half a dozen " women of strong minds." 

There are sitting near me, two gentlemen 
and three ladies from Kentucky, and slave- 
owners. I like them, to look at. The young 
ladies have been drawn to the upper end of 
the saloon. There is an honest interest in 
their faces, aside from the good breeding, 
which makes them attentive Hsteners. The 
young man of the party, a fine specimen of a 
man, has also drawn his chair within hearing 
distance. The discussion has changed its char- 
acter. Supper has come in season to dissolve 
the gathermg, before bitterness again sjDrings 
up. 

The old gentleman from the South mtrodu- 



30 SIX MONTHS 

ces himself to me after tea. He wishes to 
ask me questions about the north. He feels 
her superiority^ he says; but he wishes we 
better imderstood the dif&culty of their posi- 
tion, who are born to the inheritance of 
slaves. He is one who voted 'for gradual 
emancipation; but the bill was lost. These 
are people of the old school of good breeding ; 
and my talk with them is one of the ]Dleas- 
antest rays on the sand-bars of the Missouri. 

A very faint idea of this ficlde, deceitful 
3Iiss of the west can you form, without float- 
ing within her shores for a few days. There 
is no such thing as hiu"ry, upon her waters. 
Put on steam, and set forth to drive a " fast 
team," and the circumstance which ^^all make 
you white in the face, and faint at heart, will 
be the fangs of a "snag" driven into the 
keel ; or the drifts of an miseen sand-bar on 
either side. 

At table, I sit at the right hand of the 
Captain. The bell is rung the moment he ap- 
pears at the farther end of the saloon, and 
every waiter watches the slightest motion of 
his hand, or eye. In liis personal appearance, 
there is both dignity and authority; and at 



IN KANSAS. 31 

table^ the wants of every person are noticed 
by liim, at a glance. He has passed the most 
of his life upon this river ; and makes one at 
the wheel of his boat, passing most of his 
time there. He mvites lis up to pass an hour 
with him, after the sun is down. The view is 
really beautiful at times. The shores are 
thickly wooded, with the general appearance 
of an uninhabited country. Occasionally, 
there are grand columns of sand-stone, giving 
a good idea of ivy covered towers in the old 
world. The channel of the river is never in 
the same place twice ; and as the water is 
muddy, it is a continued wonder how a way 
is ciphered out by the Captain, at the wheel. 

It is just a week since we left home, and 
we are three hundred and fifty miles up this 
river. It seems endless, and the immensity 
just begins to dawn upon me, as well as the 
distance from home. No place have I seen 
yet where I could make a home. Everything 
seems a world too wide for the home emotion 
to root in. Crack goes the boat, with a pro- 
longed grate beneath her, as though she was 
scraped in pieces! Mother, we are on a sand- 
bar, and perhaps may pass a week here. 



32 SIX MONTHS 

Five hours! The moon is up brightly. 
The boat's crew, after most exhausting efforts, 
have pushed her off into four feet of water. 
She moves heavily, and as though contendhig 
with a power by which she has once been 
vanquished. Everybody is standing near the 
raihng looking over anxiously. The mate is 
the most vilhanous rascal I ever saw. How he 
does treat those tned sailors. Every second 
word is an oath, uttered in the voice of a 
fiend, and accompanied often with the weight 
of his hand or foot. 

Now, two men are standing one on either 
side of the lower deck, sounding. Their 
voices go up cheerfully, or sadly, as the lead 
sinks more or less. Their report is taken up 
by another man, leaning over the third deck, 
and thus reaches the captain, at the wheel, up 
still another story, mid-ships. AVhen the re- 
port sends forth the sound, "four feet large," 
then everybody says, we shall get on, our no- 
tions of water being at ebb tide just now. 

The river here is very broad, with promi- 
nent sand-bars here and there, of an acre or 
more in extent. Nearer the opposite shore 
is another steamer, fast m the mud. Her pas- 



IN KANSAS. 33 

sengers, are troops for fort Riley. She is a 
mile from us, but a common curse makes us 
friends. We steer towards her, still sound- 
ing as before. We pass her. Her crew for- 
get their own dilemma in our release, and 
cheer us. 

We are now over the worst bars of the river. 
At twelve in the night we reach Lexington, 
and part company with our Southern friends, 
not without regret. To-morrow we have the 
promise of being in Kansas city. — To-morrow 
has come. We gather up the scattered frag- 
ments of our wardrobe in our berths. The 
Httle woman leans over the rail at my open 
door; she looks pale; we quarrel about the 
expediency of her taking rest, in anticipation 
of the fatigue of to-morrow. I go my way, 
she takes hers. In less than half an hour, I 
am sent for, verily she has fainted entirely ! 
I send to the bar for iced wine. There is not 
a breath of air cooler than that which blows 
from a furnace. There is no motion about 
her heart; but she looks earnestly at me, 
while I feed her with the Avine. A gentleman 
passenger from Connecticut, with rare chiv- 
alry, takes entire care of the big baby. Why 



34 SIX MONTHS 

does she have these turns? Is it fatigue, or 
excitement at leaving dear New England? 
Toward sun-do^vn she seems quite recovered. 
We hail Kansas City in the distance, looking 
really more pleasant than one could anticipate; 
and glad we all are to anticipate a release from 
the river, or at any rate a change. Kansas 
City stands upon a clay bluff, very steep, with 
one dirty street along near the landing, the 
hiU towering roughly above it. 

"We passed the night comfortably; and as 
early as teams could be procured, started to- 
wards Kansas Territory. Our carriage was a 
cart, covered with sail-cloth, not quite high 
enough to allow us to sit with our heads up. 
There were nine of us to two mules, beside the 
driver. We rode up round the hill at the 
peril of our necks, expressed by the female 
portion of the party in sudden starts and 
broken screams. The sun came out intensely 
hot ; then we began to make love to the ugly 
sail-cloth and draw it closely down about us. 

We came into the Indian country after rid- 
mg about seven miles from Kansas City. The 
road, with the exception of occasional ravines, 
with shght rmis of water through their bot- 



IN KANSAS. 35 

toms, is remarkably fine — winding in most 
picturesque curves through open, unfenced 
prairie and grand old oak groves, as free from 
underbrush as a gentleman's well-kept grounds, 
with trees such as make the Saxon blood 
quicken at their height and antiquity. 

There is one point here which I can never 
forget, midway between Kansas City and the 
extreme border of the Shawnee Keserve. Af- 
ter walkmg down a steep ravine, crossing the 
creek on stones, climbing the opposite bank, 
th^ed, and out of breath, we packed away again 
in the cart, and the faithful mules started off 
briskly, up, up, a long way. We then came 
into a broad mowing field of a thousand acres 
— smooth as a lawn, but by no means a dead 
level ; not a fence to be seen, nor a habitation. 
The sun lay at our right, nearly down ; but he 
did not cheat us, as he often does at home, by 
the device of a hill close at hand, behind which 
he seems to look over to say, with the famil- 
iarity of a near neighbor, " Good night." No 
indeed, there was nothing so cozy about this 
scene. Grand, beyond all conception it was, 
but stern and distant, like the life of the under- 
standing without affection. In the midst of 



36 SIX MONTHS 

the awe mth which it mspired us there opened 
before us another view of. the same picture — 
at some distance appeared a gentle rise, con- 
tinuous for a mile or more, and stretching far 
to the right and left, a perfect lawn, studded 
everywhere with groups and belts of those 
tall oaks, graceful in arrangement, perfect in 
growth. We jumped up — we shouted, with 
the newly awakened delight of tired and home- 
sick children. But there was no response from 
human voice. Our ardor exhausted itself; the 
road wound gently down, leaving this part of 
the wilderness on oiu^ left, and the grand 
spread mowing field, with the golden sun hglit, 
on our right. Our way now ran along the 
dull prose of a country road, settHng us back 
into the full consciousness of the cart — its sail- 
cloth covering knocking against our bonnets 
at every jolt; its plank seats without backs; 
its cramped, imcomfortable crowdedness of 
people, of children, of baskets, of carpet-bags, 
of cloaks and shawls; its sickening odor of 
crumbled gingerbread, of bread and butter, of 
cheese and dried beef And now, the deep- 
ening twilight makes every soul turn with 
strugghng yearning to the thought of home. 



IN KANSAS. 37 

All me, Mother of mine ! " What went we out 
into the wilderness for to see ? A reed shaken 
with the wind?" Every heart in these emi- 
grant wagons has its history, and is treading 
its wine press alone. How, to the outward 
observer, we seem lifted, whether we will or 
not, by the hard and rough winds of circum- 
stances, and borne along the high road of 
human life; drifting, it may be, into some 
quiet, sheltered, cosey corner ; or, out where 
we should least expect to find ourselves — 
amidst immeasurable difiiculties of position. 

Silence has fallen upon our party. It looks 
like a company of nuns, in whom all emotion 
was smothered long ago, till it had died. But 
not so really. Old Memory has taken us by 
the shoulders and turned us round. We are 
all scattered to oin* own homes that were. 
And where is mine, my dear Mother, if not 
with you ? So I am in your room, to greet 
you as you come in after tea. You hold the 
little hand-lamp in one hand, and you are very 
careful to secure the latch of the door with the 
other ; how you place the unlighted lamp on 
the right hand corner of the mantleshelf, and 
with a care-taking glance over the room, to see 

4 



38 SIX MONTHS 

that all is in order, sink into the easy chair 
under it. I am sitting opposite you, looking 
into your earnest eyes; you look pale and 
shghtly sad ; you gaze mto the cheerful wood 
fire ; your elbow rests upon your knee, and 
you make an easy chair of the hand and wrist, 
into which, by the right of former possession, 
your chin settles down comfortably. Now you 
slily adjust the spinal weakness of the immense 
brass andiron nearest you, (by the way, I 
always felt that you considered yourself re- 
sponsible for the good appearance of that un- 
fortunate member of the family,) and mth the 
hearth-brush you make an attempt at fighting 
up some stray ashes or coals ; as though they 
had not learned long ago better than to touch 
so nice a hearth-stone. Those bright old and- 
irons, how they belong to home ! and the 
shovel and tongs that never knock their heads 
into the jams, nor irreverently roU over with 
a clattering sound ; the two quaint candlesticks 
of the same metal, standing so as to measure 
the length of the snuffer tray, which always 
occupies the centre of the mantel. Now you 
light a taper, and the candle which is longest 
is set burning. The knitting suddenly appears, 



IN KANSAS. 39 

and you are busy. The shadows flicker over 
the room, for your one wax is not brilliant. 
I lift the veil from the Hving picture of our 
dear old father; pass my hand also to the 
fancy piece from the hand of a dear sister, who 
thus prepared a tablet for her own name ; I 
smooth my hand along the household stuff of 
a past century, which, in the old ballad words, 
^^the more it is used the brighter it shines;" 
I take a gaze again at the venerable face, the 
erect form, which has borne the care of four 
score years without growing old and childish. 
The whole atmosphere of your presence has 
rested me, and now I say, ^^Good night, moth- 
er," for it seems as though you were at my 
elbow. " Good bye, dear New England. Was 
there no hearth vacant and sad by my absence? 
Was there no cabin within your precincts into 
which I could enter by ^fee simple?'' 

"There," shouts the driver, " don't you see 
there!" We jump up with a shiver, and, as 
in duty bound, look. We see, far in the dis- 
tance, what appears like a respectable-sized 
barn, forming a step between the frightfully 
wide country and the clear glowing horizon. 
We ask, "What is it?" 



40 SIX MONTHS 

"Well now/' says he of the whip, "It '-pears 
hke you don't know nothing of these parts. 
Why, that's Paschal Fish's, where we puts up." 

"How far is it from this?" 

"0, a mile and a bit or so." 

We never knew how long the "mile" meas- 
ured ; but the "bit" was a dangerous extension 
of time, prostration of our tired nerves, and a 
stripping to shreds of our pretty-well-worn 
patience. 

The driver tried to beguile the way by tel- 
Img us about Paschal Fish, an Indian of the 
Shawnee tribe, and of power among them. A 
very honest man, don't drink a drop of whis- 
key, has a corn-field of a hundred acres, and 
thirty acres of oats ; keeps a little store, and 
em^iloys New England men to make the sales; 
turns his house into a sort of a tavern, and 
employs a Yankee to cook for his company. 

Paschal sits with his hat on, in a rmninating 
mood, the most of the time — welcomes New 
England people — says, "We saw the cloud in 
the east, one, tAVO, three summers ago, and 
now it is beginning to come upon us." Here 
ends the driver's prattle. We are at the door 
of this neto hotel 



IN KANSAS. 41 

We dismount, and enter at the only door 
into the first story of a large building, simply 
boarded and loosely floored. It is dimly 
lighted with poor tallow candles in Japan can- 
dlesticks, which bear evidence of having been 
the support of candles before. There is a 
long table in the floor, and men, in whose 
faces there is absolutely no mouth to be seen, 
and only a gleam for eyes, — an entire party of 
heads, covered with dirty, uncombed, unwashed 
hair. There were no more chairs. Our bag- 
gage was brought in, and we made seats of it. 
The men ate as though the intricacies from 
their plates to their mouths had become a 
perfect slight of hand with them. As they 
passed out of the room, the dishes were wiped 
out for us ! 

Soon we jDassed up a staircase, in one end 
of the room, creaking and bending beneath 
our weight, as though we were not safe. The 
floor above was of the same stamp as that be- 
low, — one thin board of cotton-wood, which 
is somewhat Hke willow. In the loft there 
was a cotton-cloth partition. I was fortunate 
enough to secure a place for Ahce in a good 
bed, with the wife of a physician, and drew 



42 SIX MONTHS 

close before the tented door a narrow, cross- 
bedstead, lia^dng no bed upon it, and only a 
blanket for clothing. I made a pillow of my 
traveUing-bag, and laid myself away for the 
night. It was the best bed I had seen, for 
there were no occupants but myself. 

Now, men, in single file, marched vip and 
spread themselves over most of the outer 
floor. Sleep fell down upon these waifs of 
humanity. The house was quiet; and the 
new day greeted us all mth the blessing of a 
clear sky before our sleep was over. 

Before we Avere well awake, the male de- 
partment was vacated. Now came the always- 
recurring desire for water, and the hopelessly 
small portion to be obtained. One tin basin 
was most respectfully w^aited for, and the 
square of looking-glass patiently held by each 
one in turn, till our eyes were washed and our 
hair set a little smooth. As for teeth, we could 
not raise anything to rinse them with, till I 
thought of my little mug in the basket. With 
a sort of smoothed-down travelling aspect, we 
went down over the stairs. There sat Paschal 
Fish, hat over his eyes, legs crossed, looking 
as though he had not moved all night. 



IN KANSAS. 43 

The room looked pleasanter. Most of the 
travellers had gone. A bright and cheerful 
face, grown quite familiar from having been 
one among our party, was assuming some of 
the cares which belonged to the cook, who, 
it appeared, was her husband. She gave us 
clean and shining cups, saucers, and plates. 
She brought us hot biscuit from the oven ■ — 
just the smell of which made us hungry — 
and coffee, such as I never found at any hotel 
before. Her husband served three years at 
Myers', and the coffee was a credit to his 
teachers. 

After such a breakfast, we were quite in 
good humor, and mounted into the old cart, 
almost as good as new. Nine miles more we 
were to ride before we pitched our tents. 

The country did not seem as truly beautiful 
coming towards Lawrence city. The Waba- 
rusa was nearly dry, and we rode down into 
its bed and up the opposite bank, which was 
frightfully steep. Then w^e came to a little 
settlement, called Franklin, entirely bare of 
trees and shrubs. This open, unbroken waste 
of nothing but grass, with a sprinkling of 
little cabins, is inharmonious to my mind. We 



44 SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS. 

notice plenty of cows feeding along the way, 
among this wealth of grass, and, beside most 
of the cabins, ricks of hay, stacked for the 
wmter's feed. Meanwhile, our eyes look earn- 
estly forward for the first indication of the 
town of Lawrence. At our left, far off, the 
hills rise grandly, terrace-like, one back of 
the other, — and so green and smooth I Our 
driver calls the most prominent one, " Blue 
Mound," where the prophets of these tribes 
see fine college buildings looming in the years 
of Kansas' glory and prosperity. 

Soon this little wisp of a man tells us to 
'^ Come down from the mountams," and look 
at the city at our feet. One could hardly 
conceive of a jaicture so really heaidifid, of a 
town one year old. As w^e enter, the river — 
which we do not see — forms the background, 
with its thickly-wooded bank. A few nice- 
looking houses appear, and cabins quite num- 
berless. We ride to the door of the Cincin- 
nati House. And now, my dear mother, my 
journey is over. I tie my knot, and, with a 
nervous, trembhng hand, say, good-bye. Keep 
the corner for me warm, because I shall prove, 
like the dove of old, a returner to the old ark. 

H. A. R. 



FIRST EXPERIENCES 



September 20th, 1855. 

My Dear Mother : — I closed my last letter, 
and bade you good-bye, quite in a hurry. 
But as soon as I bad entered the " Cincinnati 
House/' I cast around to discover, if possible, 
some nice, quiet little corner, where I could 
tuck myself away, and, with a pencil, take 
notes for you. The " young lad " who drew us 
out here had gone out to a claim early in the 
morning, and would not return till late. 

The house into which we entered appeared 
outside, and perhaps within, very much Hke 
the way-station depots at home, — made of 
boards, jointed and painted dark brown, con- 
taining two square rooms, with an attache at 
the back end, of a ten-footer, looking like a 
wen on the side of a man's neck, but really a 
cooking-room. The two rooms are plastered, 
one makuig a nice parlor and the other a 
dining-room. There are two chambers over 
them 3 and, above all, a perfectly flat roof 

(45) 



46 SIX I^IONTHS 

On the same lot^ directly in the rear, is a barn- 
looking building, with four small rooms be- 
low, each having a door opening outside ; a 
flight of Stan's running up at the end, into 
four little attics. Each of these rooms has 
slatted walls, floors, and bedsteads, and is de- 
signed to receive (I will not say accommodate) 
three persons. I am thus particular in my 
description because I have had a great deal to 
do with these rooms, and I wish all your sym- 
pathy with everything I experience. The 
parlor is furnished with one table, small, oval- 
shaped, he^\Ti out from the beautiful black 
walnut of the country ; one rocking-chair, and 
three lounges, made of round sticks of tm- 
pealed wood, over which is stretched cotton 
cloth, of rather imcertain firmness of fabric, 
giving one the idea of brealdng through. They 
are stuffed with prakie grass, and nicely cov- 
ered with patch. 

This house is kept by two clever women 
from Lowell- one of whom kept a boarding- 
house there, and the other, as an operative, 
commended herself to' some literary celebrity 
as Editress of the " Lowell Offering." The last 
mentioned person lay upon one of these 



IN KANSAS. 47 

lounges, sick with Typhoid fever. The other 
bore the marks of recent sickness, from which 
she considered herself recovering. 

The "party" starting with ns from Boston 
had spread away in every direction, except 
the jfine woman with the two boys. Her des- 
tination was Topeka, and she had to wait till 
her husband sent for her. The sun had come 
out hot — hot as it could be. There was no 
water that we could relish, even to wash us in; 
and we were stinted, necessarily, to the small- 
est possible quantity. I never saw a woman 
so homesick as this mother of the boys. Her 
strength was entirely exhausted and she could 
not rest at all, but broke forth in the most 
clamorous complaints. 

In the kitchen there was a pretty girl from 
New England, called Phebe, and a stout, good 
humored ^ Susie,' from Illinois. One acted as 
waiter; the latter as cook — her business, I 
think she understood about as well as a freshly 
caught Laplander would have done. Then, 
there was Henry, and John, and David, who, 
each and all, served when there was a "rush" 
of company, or the water cask was dry. 

I believe that the first thing which impressed 



48 SIX MONTHS 

mB, as people passed in and out, was the sickly 
look of everybody. All elasticity seemed to 
have been drawn away from them. Not being 
able to make myself or Ahce particularly com- 
fortable, I turned to Tj^Dhoid fever ; straight- 
ened out the hair a Httle, washed the face and 
hands, worked the folds from its clothing, and 
Typhoid smiled gratefully upon me. I never 
could remember how, after dinner, I fell into 
a deep sleep, upon one of those lounges. At 
any rate, as the sun was going down, a hand 
pressed my head, and a voice said, "Wake up, 
sick one." The eyes opened as if by magic. 
Kneeling on the floor beside me was Ned, 
dressed in a clean pink and white shirt, thrown 
open loosely at the neck, sleeves rolled up 
above the elbow, boots drawn up over his pan- 
taloons ; face, neck, and arms brown, or rather, 
yellow as his hair. Typhoid turned her face 
to the wall, and wiped her eyes with the cor- 
ner of her shawl. Phebe was in the door 
under her sun-bonnet, with flushed cheek. 
She looked astonished to find the "ice man" 
of sufficient consequence to bring us all the 
way from dear New England. How beautiful 
her face is ! 



IN KANSAS. 49 

Now we started out to see the cabin, which 
he said was but forty rods distant. The loca- 
tion is particularly pretty, on a rising mound, 
and looking down the river quite a distance. 
The cabin is fifteen feet square, and eleven 
feet high, giving room for quite a loft. The 
windows were cotton cloth ; and the door was 
made of a frame, with a cross-piece, covered 
with the same material, having quite an exten- 
sive wooden latch fastened to the cross-piece 
with a wooden pin, and lifted from the outside 
by a twisted string. The cabin is made by 
driving joists into the ground four feet apart, 
and naihng "oak shakes" outside, after the 
manner of clapboards at home. These shakes 
are split out with an axe, after the blocks are 
sawed the proper length. This oak is a hard 
and crooked wood ; and the shakes, as a mat- 
ter of necessity, refrain from a very close 
embrace, leaving little scollops and curious 
bends, through which, in the night time, the 
stars can take a peep at us and we at them as 
well. There were six boards stretched across 
the middle of the room; and on one side a 
plank was fastened for a work bench. Over- 
head, as many more crooked, miserable-looking 

5 



50 SIX MONTHS 

boards were drawn along, on which, with a 
buffalo skin and blanket a-piece, Ned and a 
young friend laid themselves away at iiight to 
sleep. Half a dozen of Sharpe's rifles, with 
plenty of ammunition, and a drmn to sound 
an alarm, made up the chamber furniture. 
A rude ladder stood against the wall, to afford 
access to the uj)per story. 

This was all the work of Ned's hands ; and 
at an outlay of sixty dollars, beside his labor! 
Shakes are two dollars a hundred; good boards 
thirty-five dollars a thousand. The want of 
comfortable shelter is the great drawback to 
new comers, and causes fearful sickness. 

I went back to the hotel, feeling as though 
I could not sleep in a room where half of it 
was the open ground. My terror of snakes, 
mice, and vermin generally, sprang into the 
most intense life ; and would not be put down 
or reasoned with. The house was very full, 
and the barn too. Susie and Phebe slept upon 
the floor, in the room with four of us. Wearily 
we laid ourselves away, faihng to find a chair, 
trunk, or even a nail, to spread our clothes 
upon. But the bed felt soft to us, and we had 



IN KANSAS. 51 

faith still left in the power to sleep, even under 
difficulties. 

It is written, '' Ye know not what shall be 
on the morrow." Yerily, no fertile imaginings 
of your daughter could have conjured up the 
torture to be applied to her on this initiatory 
night in the new territory. Mother, in the 
first place, did you ever see a flea? Don't 
consider the question impertinent; or as 
throwing reproach upon your most respectable 
housekeeping. I ask for information ; because 
I have. And on this night, when I imagined 
no enemy was near, they took sole possession 
of us all ! I think I always had some respect 
for mosquitoes ; they give warning always of 
their approach, and their note is unmistakably 
Uoodi/ ; and a cheap bar over the bed secures 
you from everything but the cry for " blood." 
Quite another sort of villain is this black, 
shambling, hydra-legged " varmint ; " using his 
legs only to leap with ; never walking off, as 
though he had rights, but sneaking up from 
the floor just as one hopes to take possession 
of a bed, paid for, whisking in between the 
sheets in columns. Yet, put your finger on 
one of them if you can! Settle down and 



52 SIX MONTHS 

close your eyes, for you are so tired. Hark ! 
now they play "hop scotch" along the ex 
tremities. You give a sudden brush mth 
your hand -, but you hit nothing. Now they 
commence a tramp up, up, up ! it is no longer 
endurable. Out of bed, off comes the night- 
dress^ turned wrong-side-out. ♦In the greatest 
apparent rage at the harmless piece of cotton, 
you thrash it most vigorously against imagi- 
nary chairs, get into it again, lift up the sheets 
and go through the same pantomime against 
bed-posts and foot-bqards, which exist only in 
your memory of things, in an enthely past 
epoch of yom^ life's history. Now they are 
spread anew over the no longer unsuspected 
bed. The sleepy little Miss Alice is packed 
in after having received a thorough brushing, 
of which she takes cognizance only in broken 
dreams. You lay yourself away wearily — oh, 
so wearily — after a whole week's travel, and 
no true interval of rest, lioping to get asleep 
before you are again taken possession of 
What a futile hope. Here they come like a 
herd of homoeopathic buffaloes, as if by a pre- 
concerted signal, making head-quarters on the 
open prairie between the high bluffs of your 



IN KANSAS. 53 

shoulder-blades — nice, snug, table-land that — 
and " catch me if you can " seems to be the 
taunt with which they set up anew their 
nighf s banquet at your expense. 

After all, it is not so much what these "var- 
mints" take, as the manner in which they do it, 
that we rebel at. Commend me to a bold, 
Pharisaical mosquito, who not only sounds his 
horn before him but, sipping once for all a suf- 
ficiency of blood, which the poorest of us can 
well enough spare, settles off upon a wall or 
curtain, content to rest and let others rest, 
till he feels the want of another meal : a sort 
of " Robin Hood " robber is this gentleman. 
Wliile the Messrs. Flea and company are veri- 
table "squatters" on "hitherto unoccupied 
territory," ostensibly for the " benefit of every 
race under heaven ; " but really and truly for 
self-aggrandizement and gain. 

With the early morning, we laugh at the 
type of us emigrants, so plainly drawn in a 
pocket edition • while at the same time, fall- 
ing back upon our rights, said to be somehow 
covered by the United States Constitution, 
we say, quite boldly, "Gentlemen, these 



54 SIX MONTHS 

^claims' are d^iQdi&y preempted; you will please 
move farther up the territory." 

Our ablutions are of course of the most 
superficial land. Good old Jacob has not yet 
arrived among the pilgrims; and the water 
for man and beast comes from dame Nature's 
kindness^ in opening sundry little springs on 
the ravine slopes^ in this city of a year. It 
"will take years to dig wells. They are not 
the absolute necessity that houses are; and 
the wonder to me all the while is, what can 
they stone them with after they are dug? 
There is nothing here but lime-stone. And 
the water now is but Imie-water, too hard for 
cleaning purposes. 

The days are intensely hot; everybody 
looks wilted and dkty : how can it be other- 
wise ? Ex-Governor Keeder arrived here to- 
day. He is a fine-lookmg man, rather stout, 
with grey hair, the mien and air of a gentle- 
man, and of the Pliiladelphia stamp. The 
people here seem very enthusiastic about him, 
at which I am not at all surprised. He is a 
brave and noble-hearted man. 

Every day brings fresh loads of emigrants, 
from almost every State in the Union. Many 



IN KANSAS. 65 

fine-looking men, and really handsome women, 
and often quite large families of children, too, 
arrive. They tarry at the hotel for a night or 
two, then spread away to homes commenced 
for them somewhere in this bewildering wide 
country. Meanwhile I go over to the cabin, 
to hasten the completion of the floor. The 
promise of a few boards is a mere myth. 
The mill has a spasmodic "fever and ague." 
Just when you most hope to receive boards 
from it in return for logs, a " chill " comes on. 
No work done to-day ! 

The " lad " and his mother walk up Massa- 
chusetts street, to select a stove. We take 
time to discuss the different varieties and dif- 
ferent prices. "We go over to the cabin, and, 
sitting upon the old blue chest, go into a 
"committee of the whole," on finances. The 
principal question is. How little can we sustain 
ourselves on ? What mud we have to use, in 
the way of implements? First, then, we 
must have a stove. The price, thirty-three 
dollars ! is quite frightful ; but it will bring 
many conveniences with it; a thought of 
much moment in beginning at the foundation 
of civilized house-keepmg two thousand miles 



66 SIX MONTHS 

from the active, ever-inventive Yankee spirit^ 
where a want is hardly expressed before some 
ingenious mechanic, with more time than 
money, and a strong desire to make money, 
produces the article your necessities, whether 
real or artificial, demand. 

We go out again ; the stove is purchased. 
Across the street, at a little " shake " shop, we 
see tubs and pails; we pass over and pur- 
chase two cheaply-made tubs, a pail and a 
broom, all amounting in price to nearly 
double what you pay at home ; but they are 
among the necessities', our consciences are at 
ease. Madam takes the broom, the lad one 
side of the tubs, which she makes a level by 
placing her left hand in the handle on the 
other side. This is our promenade to the 
cabin. Now we suspend operations, while 
poor Typhoid receives the remnant of the 
day in some trifling attentions to her bodily 
wants. Yerily she is a pattern of quiet pa- 
tience, going through the routine of a fever 
where people come and go in a common pub- 
lic room; making no complaint nor imreas- 
onable demand. 

It is quite amusing to hear travellers make 



IN KANSAS. 57 

excuse to leave the apartment, when in any 
way it comes out that it is " Typhoid/' upon 
the loimge. Not everybody, but some, perhaps 
the largest proportion, are afraid. To-night 
there comes one to tarry for the night who 
carries in his mien the beauty of manly cour- 
age. How I wish for the power, my mother, 
of graphic delineation, so that this specimen 
might appear before you as he did to me. 
Somewhere in an old family bible, well worn 
with use and bearing a broken clasp upon 
one side, I have a distinct recollection of an 
engraving of one of the prophets. Often of 
a Sunday, in that old east room, where few 
people ever ventured (for it was the best 
room), I took the heavy bible from its place 
on the table between the wmdows into a 
chair, and with a child's curiosity, took a peep 
at those old pictures. No one ever explained 
them. They have all passed away from my 
memory with the exception of this grand 
old prophet. Even now I see the fine head, 
the majestic beard, the heavy masses of curl- 
ing hair, the uplifted hand and upturned eyes, 
with the flo^ving robes! Once, a very few 
years since, and yet how long it seems ! that 



58 SIX MONTHS 

picture came to me, up among the hills, 
whither, in summer, we all love to take flight. 
It was August, when nature works so effectu- 
ally that she can afford to seem idle ; when 
the stillness of every growing thing is equal 
to the great progress it is making towards its 
fullness ; when the white rolhng clouds skim 
over the deep blue sky in heavy, harmless 
profusion. From the tea-drinking of a farm- 
house, with those who were dearly beloved, 
we entered a by-road for a twilight ramble. 
The sunset was most magnificent. We stood 
in silence till it sank below a fine wood in the 
distance. Clouds of the most gorgeous colors 
followed in the train: then a space of that 
clear, warm blue which often is to be seen 
before twilight, and, hanging above it, a heavy 
white drapery. We turned to look. A cry 
of one note — an instinctive clasping of every 
hand. We stood before the prophet again ! 
clearly cut from that fleecy cloud, of size co- 
lossal, yet grandly proportioned. 0, that it 
should ever fade away ! The prophet of my 
childhood, came to me again! Not a word 
was spoken till the pictm-e merged itself in 
the masses of cloud. And, even to this day, 



IN KANSAS. 69 

there is to us who saw it a sudden thrill when- 
ever we speak about it, always ending with 
the remark, " If we could only see it again ! " 
No actual could, of course, ever equal those 
two pictures in memory's gallery. But here 
comes a smaller edition of the same thing, — 
not small, though ; very large, measuring one 
man with another, — a great deal of clear 
white hair, and an answering white beard; 
forehead high and broad ; eyes deep-set under 
shaggy brows, and of a piercing brightness; 
a figure more than six feet ; a voice mellow 
as the softest bass. He sits by Typhoid and 
talks, without fear of any disease, as though 
he was her father and everybody's father. 
He tells her of the great sickness up in the 
territory, — how whole famiHes are on their 
beds, in some instances, with no one to bring 
them a drop of water ; the doors of their cab- 
ins standing open. They are helpless to 
defend themselves, or provide for the most 
trifling want. When he arose to go I stood 
up, too ; he gave every one his hand, and 
passed out to sleep in his wagon, under a 
buffalo, with a canopy of sail-cloth. The 
grasp of his hand was a benediction. Who- 



60 SIX MONTHS 

ever he may be, whatever place he may fill 
among men, in person and majestic manner, 
I "ne'er shall look upon his like again." 

Sepi. 2bth. — Your trio of descendants, my 
dear mother, take possession of the cabin to- 
day. The trunks, four in number, are moved 
over; the boards constituting the floor are 
drawn close together in the centre of the 
room, so as to accommodate the cooking stove, 
which we are hourly expecting. Ahce and 
myself are sewing up some sacks of coarse, 
unbleached cotton, to be filled with prairie 
hay and used as mattresses to our lounges, 
which we have the promise of to-night. 
We sit a while upon one trunk, then try 
another, hoping it may be more comfortable ; 
then we mount the old blue chest ; but we 
cannot, in either position, cheat ourselves into 
the belief that we find rest to our backs. 
This leads us into another " committee of the 
whole " upon the question of indulging in the 
luxury of chairs. We price them, but can 
find nothing cheaper than two dollars seventy- 
five cents for a most frightfully-painted wooden 
rocking-chair, and one dollar each for ordinary 



IN KANSAS. 61 

kitchen chairs, not enough easier to sit in than 
the changes of baggage to justify the expense. 
Meanwhile, sewing at the sacks, we take a 
peep at the chinks and corners of the cabin. 
The day is intensely hot ; flies are having a 
home-like frolic, up midway in the room, and 
number more than ever I saw in one room 
before. They do not, however, seem inclined 
to interfere with us, their happiness being 
complete in the warmth of the day and the 
merry roominess of the space between us and 
the rafters. Soon I see coming down the 
beam near me a cricket-looking body, only 
large as a half-dozen home crickets. I move 
suddenly, but say, very quietly, " Ned, what 
lodger is this ? " He is intimately acquainted 
with them, for he points to quite a small army 
of them in another direction, and says, " Only 
crickets. Everything grows large in this 
country. They won't hurt you. Why, they 
lived here by right before we came." Yerily 
the boy is more of a philosopher than his 
mother. Will she ever get rid of her fear of 
bugs? 

Now comes the man with two narrow frames 
for beds, into which I have cords laced, after 



62 aiX MONTHS 

the manner of a bedstead, believing they will 
be softer than the bars of wood laid across. 
We get them in readiness ; hunt out the two 
blankets and one pillow, which we brought 
along in a trunk for any emergency. The 
^^Bay State shawls" are fastened up and 
turned into tapestry against the walls, back 
of the lounges. Two quilts of stripped-up 
dresses, done by your hand, dear mother, are 
brought from the chest, and with them sheets, 
too, with the New England clean-odor still 
in their folds 1 What nice little beds they 
seem, if they are but prairie grass. Now, 
just as we Hght a candle, comes a dried, motr 
tied httle man, with the stove. He is equal 
to what he undertakes, and soon puts it in 
the right place, with the long funnel peering 
out above the roof He kindles a fire to make 
sure his work is well done, and squats himself 
upon the floor to watch the result, and 7rst 
himself I stand mth the candle m a Japan 
candlestick of curious pattern, having a tube 
for matches, a dinner-plate-like bottom, from 
the centre of which rises a spy-glass set of 
tubes, which push the candle up or down as 
may be desired. The httle man warms his be- 



IN KANSAS. 63 

grimed hands by the open stove-doors. "What 
a picture we make in the fantastic grouping 
of fire-hght and candle-light; bright, clean little 
beds, heavily-corded trunks, a pleasant child's 
face, the dark, barn-looking roof, into which 
we can only trace objects dimly and fitfully 
as the fire burns up brightly or fades through 
want of fuel ; and, standing in the back- 
ground, the carroty-haired youth, with gray 
clothes, and felt hat drawn down over his 
eyes. The little man seems loth to go. We 
want our supper, and he wants sympathy, and 
asks it, creeping closer to the fire, for the 
nights are damp. He must tell me, in tedious 
detail, how sick he has been in his shop, with 
no one to care for him ; and, child-like, goes 
back to his native home in Ohio, tells me all 
his Httle troubles, and how he always told his 
mother, in his letters home, that his health 
was very good, it would make her so unhappy 
to hear anything else. Out into the darkness 
went the little man, with a pleasant " Good 
night " from those who gladly made a light 
supper, and put themselves into a night posi- 
tion. 

How much like sleeping out doors it seemed! 



64 SIX MONTHS. 

the cabin so small and thin. Out on the main 
street there were all manner of discordant 
noises — loud and angry talking, with an occa- 
sional report of fire-arms ; nearer, even close 
to the cotton door, were the tinkle of cow- 
bells and the lowing of cattle. I call to Ned 
to explain their uneasiness. He says, an ox 
was shot close by, yesterday, and the skin 
hangs not far distant upon a fence, around 
which the cattle paw the ground, and moan, 
after the fashion of an Irish " wake." 

This is too novel a position to be wasted in 
sleep. The moon comes in through the cot- 
ton windows. I watch the mice (not less than 
a dozen) play over the bridge of a floor, race 
over our baggage, climb up our nice shawl 
curtains ; and, growing strong with the neces- 
sity for it, I drive them away only when they 
come too near the quilt. Morning comes, with 
no bread for breakfast, and no bread-store or 
baker to fall back upon in such an emer- 
gency. 

There is some Graham flour, so we mil have 
some griddle cakes. But what can w^e make 
them up in ? Our utensils consist of a wash- 
basin of tin, a tiny tea-pot, a mug, brought 



IN KANSAS. 65 

with the tearpot in my basket^ a very little tin 
pail, property of the boy house-keeper, but of 
quite questionable cleanness, and an iron spoon 
with part of the handle broken off. The pail 
and spoon are made clean. But there is no 
salt — nevertheless we manufacture the cakes 
without it in the Httle tin pail, with water, and 
a pinch of soda. Just here I gained a new 
idea. The water is very strongly impregnated 
with lime, making bread or cakes, without 
soda, quite Hght ; some butter, which could be 
dipped with a spoon, was used for frying; and 
the Hme-water cg^kes, made in a hopeless state 
of mind, were light and very palatable. Alice 
turned the tubs over, the smallest tub mounted 
upon the larger, and spread three plates upon 
it. She was hi an amusing state of dismay 
when she discovered that there was no way of 
sitting round her new-fashioned table, without 
chairs. So we shook hands with the httle tea- 
pot, having the mug for our tea cup, arranged 
upon the old blue chest, and made love to the 
cakes from plates settled carefully upon our 
laps. We now again went into the science of 
economy, counting over our fast diminishing 
store of gold, and the many things we must 

6* 



66 SIX MONTHS 

have; while there oj)ened to the eyes which 
had travelled the longest and saddest road, a 
picture of a long, new winter, which gladly, 
most gladly^ she would have turned away from. 

Oct 1st. — Susie, who has been, poorly for 
several days, has now a serious fever upon her. 
I go every day to ^^ smooth her up;" httle Ty- 
phoid, still unable to go about, is taken up 
stairs into the same room with Susie. They 
manifest their distress, as well as their grati- 
tude, in as different ways as possible. Typhoid 
is peace and patience itself; Susie keeps up a 
loud demonstration of her pains and wants. 
But she is very pleasant, too. I believe she is 
really much the sickest person ; and am afraid 
there will be more sickness in that house. 

Coming home, I find the man of whom we 
get our milk, at the door. This man I must 
tell you about. Just opposite my door, twenty 
rods distant, stands a cabin made of turf The 
man who lives in it keeps a few cows, and sells 
their milk. He is rather a good-looking speci- 
men of a man, and quite gracious in his man- 
ner. Keport says he is a clergyman from 
Pennsylvania. At any rate, his mission here 



IN KANSAS. 6.7 

seems to be, to make money. He trusts no 
one for milk, but sells you so many little tick- 
ets, each counting for a quart of milk, at five 
cents per quart. So far, so good. Daisy kept 
the tickets, and, what was more difficult, hunt- 
ed up some sort of a vessel to put the milk in. 
But to-night there was something on his mind, 
and after I came in, he said he must raise the 
price of milk to eight cents a quart. It seem- 
ed to me quite a lift, from ^ve cents to eight, 
but as I was not responsible for his plans, and 
did not wish to chaffer with him, I simply said, 
"We will reduce our quantity then." Think- 
ing it over afterwards, how important milk was 
to the children, I called a "council," to consider 
about the expediency of buying a cow. Ed- 
ward accordingly looked around and priced 
cows. We could get a good cow, for this 
country, for twenty-five dollars ; and with her 
a calf, which, we learn, is alwayB used as a 
"decoy-duck" to bring the cow home. We 
made up our minds that a cow was a matter 
of necessity, and of course a piece of economy, 
and that we would take up the remainder of 
the tickets and then set up on our OAvn ac- 
count in the milk line. Meanwhile, sickness 



68 SIX MONTHS 

multiplies ever}n;vliere5 and the heat is very 
oppressive. I mounted the second story of 
the little barn I told jou of, to see some men 
who, I was told, were sick there. In my hand 
was a pitcher of gruel, with a cup over it, for 
the double purpose of a cover and to feed them 
from, and in my pocket a silver spoon. The 
first man had a very sore mouth from saHva- 
tion ; he could hardly speak, but his fever was 
entirely gone ; indeed, he had been brought in 
from the country, and from some "claim" 
which he had taken up previous to his sick- 
ness. He was partly dressed, and I asked him 
to lay upon the other bed, while I made his 
more comfortable. He seemed very much 
surprised to see me at all, as well as at my 
request; but he obeyed. I "dressed," to use 
the Irish epithet, his bed as well as possible, 
went out and got a pitcher of fresh water, 
washed his face and hands, using a clean Hnen 
from my pocket for the purpose. "Now," I said, 
"You must eat ; it will clear out that dreadful 
mouth to swallow this gruel." He seemed to 
doubt his ability to get it down ; but was quite 
assured by my confidence, and, taking my di- 
rection, which always is, when the mouth or 



IN KANSAS. 69 

throat is sore, to drink from a cup or tumbler 
large swallows, without stopping, till the vessel 
is empty — he drained the cup, and held it out 
for more, which I gave him. How glad he 
looked ! Now he spoke with comparative ease; 
and I helped him into the newly-made bed, 
quite refreshed. 

I knocked at the next door, from which 
came a faint " Come." It was a sort of closet, 
opening from the other, hot as an oven, almost, 
and contained two narrow racks for beds; upon 
one of which a slight-built, young fellow lay, 
looking as though he was bm'ied, so far as 
friends were concerned. He looked so young 
and slight, I could have cried over him, if it 
would have done anything towards making 
him bigger and more fit to fight out a destiny 
in Kansas. But I did not conclude it w^ould ; 
on the other hand, I had made up my mind 
previously, that water, as an application, could 
not injure any person or thing hereabouts. So, 
brushing up the young man's hair with my 
hands, I kneeled beside him and tried to rouse 
him. He did not notice me much, or indeed 
anything else, till I said, "You w^ill feel re- 
freshed if I bathe you." So, after this pre- 



70 SIX MONTHS 

liminary, I went through with his head, face, 
and arms ; then took the spoon and fed him, 
as you would a child. He did not need much, 
and was too sick to take it if he had desired it. 
But after he was through, and I turned to go 
out, he threw his arms over liis head, turned 
his face to the wall, and I heard him say : " I 
ain't been so happy this thirteen months ; 
'pears like my mother has come." 

I crept out, down stands, to the room below, 
where David was sick. He had his share of 
attention, and begged of me to come again — 
to which I replied, he should have liis share of 
my spare time. I then went into the house 
to ask what provision had been made for the 
night. Phebe said John would he down on 
a couch by David, and take care of him. 
David seemed almost too sick to be put off 
with anytliing less than a wide-awake watcher; 
but I did not lilvc to interfere. Besides, John 
was sitting upon the sill of the "wen" door, 
close by me ; the night was coming in damp, 
and it seemed to me that he did not look well. 
Phebe said, in answer to my question, that he 
was not ; but John did not speak to me. I 
thought his manner very strange. I still 



IN KANSAS. 71 

thought of it after I came into my cabin, and 
could not feel easy about the night arrange- 
ment for the sick. 

Without being at all '^ clever/' according to 
the English definition of the word, I do not 
think any person ever had keener instincts 
than myself I often account for it on the 
prmciple that no creature is made without 
some pecuhar, personal power of safety, or 
monition of what course to pursue as a means 
to that end. Be that as it may, certain I am, 
my work was hastened in the morning so as 
to be ready early to go the rounds. Before 
they were completed, a messenger came for 
Edward to go out five miles, to a cabin where 
four men were '^ down " (to use the country 
expression) with chills and fever. It seemed 
a clear case of duty to let him go, for a few 
days at least, — provided he could secure 
Paine, his old chum, to guard us at night. 
This was readily promised by Paine ; and Ed- 
ward rolled up his buffalo, jumped into the 
wagon, and was off. My visit was thus re- 
tarded. But soon I was on hand, full of the 
foreshadowmg of more sickness. 

Poor Davie, and poor John, indeed. John 



72 SIX MONTHS 

laid himself down at Davie's feet, so, as he 
said, Davie might Idcl^: at him and wake him, 
if he slept too somidly. Davie's fever is very 
severe. John sank into a dead sleep, which 
often precedes sickness, not to be aroused by 
the pressure of Davie's foot, but to writhe in 
convulsions of which he had no cognizance. 
I can hardly think of poor, honest and patient 
Davie's night in that little barn-manger, with- 
out getting into a fit myself — it seems so 
dreadful — suffering as he is, receiving no 
help himself, and seeing this large, stout man 
rollmg upon his narrow bed, until at last he 
springs over upon the floor, bruismg his nose 
and face, causing the blood to flow as though 
he was butchered outright. Now, when the 
excitement is too much for Davie, and the 
peril to John quite serious, some one of all 
the hard sleepers in those rooms wakes, gets 
up, and takes the matter in hand. 

My visit finds Davie purple almost with 
fever, three men holding John so that he may 
not harm himself, and the room in the great- 
est confusion. John, it seems, cannot possibly 
live. My anxiety is to get Davie out of the 
room. I remember the two beds, one only of 



IN KANSAS. 73 

which was occupied by Sore Mouthy up stairs, 
and in less time than I take to write it out 
to you, Davie was carried up there. I go up 
and sit down between Sore Mouth and Davie, 
and talk pleasantly for a while, making a very 
free use of cold water. They both talk to me 
of their mothers. Verily woman is majestic to 
her cliildren, whatever she may be to any 
other person. These men, with coarse, brown 
features, unshaven faces, uncut hair, large and 
brawny arms, rough and horny hands, — how, 
in this interval of repose from hard labor, 
their thoughts go back to their childhood's 
home ! and the mothers who bore them were 
the strong ties still holding them there. This 
is the fine gold in their hard natures, and al- 
most the only charm, except that of reHeving 
human suffering, which made their sick rooms 
pleasant. Here we were, all strangers to each 
other, — they confiding in me, and I striving 
to shut out some of the painful portions of 
their condition by making other portions more 
prominent, — which were indeed sources of 
great comfort. 

There is in reality no i^omance in a sick room, 
especially if one has no personal interest in 

7 



74 SIX MONTHS 

the parties. The romance of disease exists 
only in beautiful engravings, never coming 
out of the frame : like pictures of charming 
children, who never have dirty faces, torn 
clothes, or an evident necessity for pocket- 
handkerchiefs, hair-brushes or fine-tooth combs; 
— so, in these places of pain, where, from the 
new and unfinished state of everythmg, com- 
fort is not to be had, it is made pleasant to go 
and come only by remembermg long sick- 
nesses of my own — blessed gifts from heaven 
— wherein I learned how to suffer with those 
who suffer. Getting up to finish my round, 
and look in once more upon John, Sore 
Mouth says, sadly, "You have not been in 
this Territory long, if you had, you could not 
laugh so lightly." Poor fellow, he did not know 
that the laugh was designed to aid dh-ectly the 
operation of his medicine — thrown in as a 
part of his necessary medical attendance. 

Again I went m to poor John. I tried to 
make him know me ; but he was wholly un- 
conscious, and so httle lil^e a human being I 
could not bear it, and, for the first time, this 
morning, I went into the ten-foot wen, sat 
down by the cooking-stove, and burst into 



IN KANSAS. 75 

tears. Phebe came and stood by me, weeping. 
Then it dawned upon me that she loved John, 
and was probably engaged to him. Mean- 
while Typhoid came for me, to say that Mr. 

C had returned the night previous, 

very sick, and that the first person he asked 
for was myself While I stood talkmg with 
her about it, I noticed for the first time a gen- 
tleman, to whom she immediately introduced 

me as Mr. , of Philadelphia. His name 

you will remember as one famiUar to me — he 
having been recommended to me as a proper 
legal adviser, should I need one. But, now I 
have seen him, I am pleasantly reminded of 
your dear son-in-law, Mr. Andrews, to whom 
he bears a most striking resemblance. I have 
neither time nor heart now to talk with him ; 
I tell hun so — it is my way, you know — and 

then I go to see after Mr. C . 

He is in the chamber over the hotel parlor. 
I knock. He answers, "Come in." He is 
thrown upon a narrow bed, still dressed, just 
as he came in from his political travels 
through the Territory. In the room are two 
wide beds, occupied by Germans with their 
wives. The women have risen ; the men are 



76 SIX MONTHS 

sick. From two more narrow beds the oc- 
cupants are shaken out and gone. C 

seems more worn out than sick, and quite dis- 
tracted with the confusion of his room. I ask 
him if he will go home with me. He says, 
^ Oh yes, most gladly ! " I rush down stairs and 
out at the door, to see if any carriages are 
standing about. While looking round, one 
drives up. I attack the owner of it, lil^e a 
highway robber, asking very earnestly, not for 
his pm'se, but for him and his carriage, to take 
a sick man a few rods to a cabin. He looked 
at me very curiously ; but when I said Mr. 

C must suffer much from any delay, as 

he was in want of immediate rest, the name 
seemed to electrify him; he drew his horse 
close to the hotel door, and I started for home 
to be in readiness for his arrival. I had, in 
fact, given the possibihties in the case no 
thought at all — my poor accommodations, 
want of bedding and every convenience. It 
was another of those instinctive acts, which 
are always pleasant afterwards for me to look 
at; not as being a part of myself, but because 
I attach to them what you, wdio are wise may 
consider as a fallacy, the conviction, always 



IN KANSAS. 77 

SO pleasant, of not being alone ; of having 
another me, beside this most disagreeable in- 
tractable me, who sometimes comes to my 
help, so that I may lay up some treasures, 
pleasant to overhaul when the mind is in re- 
pose and soHtude. 

The carriage arrived almost as soon as my- 
self; and Mr. followed close upon it, 

to offer any assistance. The cabm, after all, 
did not look so very badly. It was swept up 
clean, and had a sort of cleaned-up aspect, not- 
withstanding the cotton-wood floor; which 
you must know is very much like the downy 
side of cotton-flannel, and when experimented 
on with Kansas soil, becomes quite a peculiar 
color to neat housekeepers, who have had but 
one idea hitherto of floors, viz: that they 
should be washed occasionally. 

Mr. C is a sUght-built person, delicate 

complexion, sandy hair, fine forehead, gentle, 
manly manner, and about twenty-seven years 
of age. Is a native of Charleston, South 
Carolina, has a wife and three children, and a 
most devoted mother; all now Hving in Balti- 
more. I take the place of his mother at once. 
I help him off with his extra clothes and his belt 



78 SIX MONTHS 

with pistols ; the latter are loaded, and he asks 
me to please place them under his bed within 
reach. This, mother, is a necessiti/ of the coun- 
try ; and sick as he is, the habit makes him 
ask for the safe deposit of his means of per- 
sonal defence. I feel so glad I have one pil- 
low here for him, and two of those large, 
heavy blankets, because on this narrow couch 
one blanket can be doubled so as to answer 
for two. Poor fellow, he simply remarks, '^ How 
good the bed feels," and is fast asleep. I un- 
lock the blue chest and dig up from its capa- 
cious depths the old piano cover, out of which 
I create a drapery around the front side of 
the little bed. Little Daisy and myself creep 
round as quietly as the mice ; and the poor 
worn man, just home from a tramp through 
this great world of territory, sleepmg in wag- 
ons or under them, speaking to assembled set- 
tlers in the open plain and imder the stars, 
with the damp ground to stand upon, has a 
chance, I hope, to sleep away the indications 
of long sickness. But no ; when he sleeps 
even, there is a burning heat 'fusing itself 
through his frame. I bring another sort of 
couch, made up for the occasion, close to the 



IN KANSAS. 79 

stove, and lay myself away upon it. The 
night grows very cold, and the wind creeps in 
everywhere. I am in a perfect chill, and can- 
not get warm even by a large fire. Mr. 

C sleeps quite well, and the unnatural 

heat about him makes him insensible to the 
change of temperature. How I shiver, and 
remember all the poor who know no other 
way of passing their autumn nights or winter 
days, than in this forlorn chill. If my bed- 
clothes were only here, how comfortable we 
all might be ! Strange they are so delayed ! 

P sleeps soundly over-head, with a few 

old quilts of his. Can I ever learn to make 
so hard a bed the place of rest, forgetfulnesSj 
or dreams ? Ah, mother of mine, I do like a 
nice bed, and am quite homesick without it 

all the while. Though P seems comfortable, 

I cannot reconcile it to myself not to place 
him more according to my ideas of ease and 
rest. 

Morning is met with gladness — for the days 
are still warm. Morning brings the Doctor, 
and he confirms my fears of a fever for Mr. 

C . Now the cotton door is thronged with 

calls, to see or learn of my poor patient. At 



80 SIX MONTHS 

first, I hardly dare refuse admittance. But, 
as the case becomes more serious, I close the 
door upon all. Now, surely, this mother's son 
and wife's and children's solace and support, 
must be closely cared for. 

I leave Ahce to watch, while I make a short 
call on other sick folks. Davie seems to need 
me most. He says, if he could have me all 
the time for two or three days, he should 
surely be well. John is certamly better ; he ' 
takes some notice of those about him. It 
seems wonderful indeed ! 

Edward has returned, leaving his men all 
better, and is quite tired out himself He 
has found a cow, and we are enjoying the 

nice milk very much. Mr. C 's fever is 

unabated, and he is very restless under it. 
He is, I find, quite an important person in the 
political circle of Kansas; and as there is a 
State convention called to meet m about two 
weeks, his progress towards recovery seems 
retarded by his anxiety to be able to take his 
seat. 

I am beginning to get very thed ; but I can 
not give up my post at all. Other sick -peo- 
ple are getting on faster than IVIr. C . 



IN KANSAS. 81 

I drop away from them, to hurry him along. 
Wise men of the nation come in shoals to 
to the door, to say how important he is to 
them ; and to express thanks for my taking 
him in charge. I had not the least idea that 
he was of more consequence than Davie, or 
any other person, when I took him home. 
But I see very plainly his temperament will 
make it hard work to get hun up rapidly. I 
must devote myself to him. Here I sit, mother ; 
the cooking stove is at my right hand, my 
poor invahd at my left ; on the stove-hearth, 
stands the last of grand-father's coffee cups, 
which he fancied so much for their generous 
size, and standing in it the spoon, bearing 
your name at full length. I wonder how 
many times I read it every day, scan each 
letter, measure the whole word, knitting the 
while, often with my eyes closed, from a sore- 
ness gathering into them for the want of 
sleep. Now I see the lips of the sick man 
move. I lift the nice old spoon to moisten 
them, and return it again to the cup. Down 
before me is a tin wash-basin, full of ice-water, 
and a napkin old and soft. It seems to mes- 
merize the heated features, by its softness and 



82 SIX MONTHS 

coolness. The eyelids cease to quiver; quiet- 
ness is in the cabin ; my portfolio is at hand 
and takes the place of the knitting work; 
you are in my thought and close by me, with 
your womanly msdom. The pencil, however, 
has no fears in hmning for you, and through 
you, for others. You will smooth the defects, 
take in at a glance the divided thoughts 
between the sick and the well, the discom- 
fort of writmg without a table or an easy 
posture, day or night, without change of 
ideas or condition, from the fifteen-feet square 
of cabin, in which, look up or down, you feel 
as though every utensil and every article of 
apparel had been suddenly stricken mth 
spasms, or gone u-recoverably out of its place. 

Oct. IWi. — Our milkman called to say 
there was a very sick man in his cabin, he 
would like me to come in and see what I 
thought of him. I asked if his ^yife was well; 
whereupon he said he had no family but 
this man, who had been sick some time, 
though not dangerously ; but now he seemed 
worse, and he thought if I would stop with 



IN KANSAS. 83 

broth or gruel when I went by, it would do 
him good to share it. Of course I went. 

The cabin is simply a roof, mth a fire-place 
and entrance at one end and a window at the 
other. I was surprised on entering, to see 
how very clean and comfortable it looked 
within. The walls were covered with cotton 
cloth; the ground with a cotton carpet; on 
each side of the window a bed was fitted in, 
and upon one of them lay the sick-man. He 
was alone, and I was almost afi:'aid to go close 
to him at first. So I poured out some chicken- 
broth, for he had no fever, and went to his 
bed with it in my hand, after having set the 
door wide open. — Mother, you need not tell 
anybody ; but I am truly a very great coward 
when my mind is in repose. 

Mr. H 's hair was very gray, and 

turned back from his forehead ; his face pale 
and deathly, but dirty for want of washing. 
He had a buffalo skin over him, and when 
asked if he was warm, answered distinctly, 
"Yes;" though it appeared at a glance, that his 
mind was worn to shreds. I think his mouth 
is very handsome ; but there is something 
about the atmosphere of his presence wliich 



84 SIX MONTHS 

kept me wanting to run home. I said to my- 
self, "What a fool you are, why don't you feed 
him ? nobody can be good when they are 
hungry." 

How much we talk about the wickedness 
of the poor. But it's of no use trying to make 
them better; no use to talk to them about 
their souls, till we wash, and feed, and clothe 
then bodies. The wants of the body are an 
unforgotten fact, ever present. But the broth 
will get cold ; so I'll feed this sad old man, and 
go. I ask him to take it, presenting the spoon, 
and holding the mug in the palm of my hand, 
with the fingers brought up over it. I am 
thus particular, because of his remark, over 
which Mr. C. has laughed heartily, and perhaps 
you may. The broth seemed to suit ; but all 
the while he kept looking at the mug, as I 
supposed. Presently he smiled, and then he 
looked as though he would cry, but said, with 
the faintest voice, and with quite an interval 
between each word, "I should like to know 
who it is that feeds me." I told him I was 
Edward's mother. But he did not understand, 
evidently. Indeed, everything I said seemed 
to break the chain of his own thoughts. Now 



IN KANSAS. 85 

he rallied again, and smiled; but his only 
remark while I stayed, was, " There is a great 
difference in hands." Once, before I put my 
hands to steep in Hme-water, I should have 
considered it complimentary, now I was wholly 
at a loss how to take him. But I made up 
my mind that the milkman should wash him 
clean, and I would feed him; and I accom- 
plished my pur20ose. 

Now, Edward has to go for me, for I am 
very lame and tired. But I have received a 
blessing in the shape of a brother of Mr. C, 
Lieut. C. of Baltimore, an older man, and a 
most willing, as well as excellent nurse. He 
comes in fresh and strong ; keeps the fire up 
all night ; sleeps Hke a soldier, with one eye 
open, and upon the floor, ready at a moment. 

Mr. has been the most devoted of 

Mends. I wish you knew him. Mother, he is 
so much like Mr. Andrews. The best rest I 
have had has been when he has taken my 
place. 

Oct, 2Wi. — No news of my boxes yet, and 
the weather has become very cold. There 
never was such a wind as those rocky moun- 

8 



86 SIX MONTHS 

tains send over the country. It rocks the 
cabin like a cradle ; and we can hardly hear 
each other talk. I feel as though we must be 
blown into the river, or off over the prairie. 
I open my lips sometimes, to call out to the 
mountams to " shut up that door, and not to 
freeze us out entirely. Why, you are worse 
than the Missourians. They want to bum us 
out; 'and between you both, where shall we 
fetch up?" Cotton ^vindows won't do this 

weather, so we put in glass ones. Mr. 

holds a candle in the evening;, while Mr. P 

puts one in; and I keep a great shawl up as a 
screen between the sick and the draught. 
Now for a wooden door! It is among the 
'^' must haves." . Now I make paste, and secure 
every pair of hands I can, to help paste up 
newspapers over the walls of the cabin. 

For several days, another invalid, a young 
clerk from Boston, has come in to be fed. 
There is quite a breaking up of eating places; 
perhaps because of sickness. I am too much 
of a stranger to know, and too little given to 
asking questions to learn. This young man I 
pity very much. He has chills and fever upon 
him alternately; and has no regular home. 



IN KANSAS. 87 

He sleeps in an office, where I called twice to 
see him. Now, he creeps out a Httle ; bnt 
there never was any disease so fully iqo to and 
really capable of, taking the entire pith out of 
a man as this same chills and fever. I could 
not refuse the sad victim of such rough hand- 
ling the blessing of a warm meal, at any hour 
of day or night. Now, if ever, it is hard upon 
me to do it heartily. I am so, cold, cold ; it 
seems as though my blood was frozen. Nei- 
ther day nor night have I been warm this 
week. But we must paper out the cold wind 
— colder than any known to the oldest in- 
habitant. 

Little Daisy keeps in bed. She does not 
seem very sick. Perhaps 'tis the weather. 
My heart almost fails me; but it won't do; 
everybody will freeze if these papers are not 
put on, two or three thicknesses. One can 
have no idea how much good they do, till they 
Hve in a "shake" cabin. My paste is used up. 
Two bricks are on the top of the stove, heat- 
ing, to place as sentinels at the feet of my 
patients, to keep the wmd out. The Lieut, is 
on hand, cheerful, careful for us all. I am 
tired ; and by the great fire which he has kin- 



88 SIX MONTHS 

died, my aching limbs seem quite disposed to 
thaw. The day's work is over. He spreads his 
buffalo over the back of the great rocking 
chair, and bids me get well heated up before 
bed time. Daisy sleeps ; so does the boy up 
over head. I think of my clerk only, just now, 
anxiously. He did not come in for his "toast 
and tea." My head Ues easily against the 
warm buffalo. The poor clerk seems, to the 
almost dozing fancy, many, very many sick 
men — resting in uneasy, crazy-looking beds, 
and very many in a bed ; in fact, each bed 
seems a nest of rough, uncombed heads, with 
burning cheeks and shaggy beards; while 
hands, hard and sunburnt, reach after me ; lips 
move imploringly for me to moisten them. I 
am hunting hopelessly — the awful ho23eless- 
ness of nightmare — for water, naj)kms, and 
gruel. Oh, they will all die, and I can't help 
them. I utter a cry, which startles even my- 
self. My surprise is momentary, to find myself 
in bed, with people watching carefully over 
me. My mind slips out of the things they say 
and do, into the states in which it has been 
strained to the utmost for many days. Now, 
the hurry is, to keep a poor forlorn woman 



IN KANSAS. 89 

from freezing. My gray travelling dress is the 
first thing I put my hand to, and strip it into 
narrow ribbons, to tuck into the cracks about 
her bed. The excitement again gives vent to 
itself in mutterings, and broken words, waking 
me again to a sense of pain and sickness. Now 
reason comes back to me ; and close to it, for 
a moment, I hear the flapping of the wings of 
despair. The hub of the tvheel is hroJcen, what 
will they do without me ? 

It is dayhght. Mr. has just closed 

the door softly after him, and gone home to 
get a nap, after his night's watching. In the 
rocking-chair sits the good Lieutenant, sipping 
a cup of tea. Again the door opens, and Ed- 
ward comes in with the milk. I lift the corner 
of my curtain and look over to see how the 
sick man is. He, too, is sipping tea. I'm sure 
he must be better. It makes me better to 
think he is. The quick ears of the Lieutenant 
hear me ; he bobs his curling hair up above 
the chair, turns his honest, cheerful face round 
to me. "Ten me how many children you 
have," I asked. I beUeve he thought me out 
of my senses. But he answered me truly — 
" Four." " Then you can have no objections 

8* 



90 SIX MONTHS 

to my calling you ' Uncle Jeff/ for I am in my 
second childhood?" "Call me anything you 
please, so you only get well/' was his reply. 

Now it dawns upon me more fully, that I 
am sick. I beg to get up. I beg, too, if I 
cannot get up, that they will not tell you. 
Indeed, I'm quite sure I can write you myself 
in a few days ; and, like my sick people over 
the way, I am ready to speak falsely almost, 
rather than you shall hear how badly-off we 
are. I can form no idea of the time I have 
been laid aside. By the pain and weariness, 
and the dead level of thought, it seems as 
though time moved sluggislily, and would 
never end. How powerless we all lie here ; 
full of the strange fancies of sick people ; long- 
ing for something quite impossible to obtain ; 
or if obtained, quite unsuitable for us to have. 

But 0! the water — the water, gushing 
down the stony streams of dear New England ! 
— never faiHng in the old mossy-stoned wells 
— how our hps parch for some of it ! how our 
thoughts dwell upon its coolness, abundance, 
and sparlding clearness, until, in feverish 
dreams, we seem to reach and taste it ! How 
we go back; always to pleasant home-looking 



IN KANSAS. 91 

chambers, — the glare of light subdued by 
green bHnds without, and clean curtains 
within. How our outraged sense of harmony 
and good taste hngers over the conveniences, 
as well as decorations belonging to a past life, 
from which, by a strange and new turning of 
the wheel of destiny, we seem to be entirely 
and forever banished. 

The habits of years, how strong they be- 
come ! The tones of a piano, -even though it 
were but the simple practice of a new learner, 
how gratefully it would break upon our ears ! 
The tones of a bell, telling the hour of day 
or night, caUing to church, or tolling a funeral 
knell — the distant rumble, the nearer whirl, 
and still more near shrill wlustle of the steam 
engine, — how, as never before, would they 
make us feel not quite banished from the 
earth ! 

Now " Uncle Jeff" comes to me mth tea, 
and the promise of a place by the fire to- 
morrow, should the weather moderate. He 
tells me, too, of a grand hunt which is to 
come off in a week, the game to be served up 
in the dining-room of the yet-unfinished hotel. 
He presents me an invitation to the supper, 



92 SIX MONTHS 

and is quite sure we shall all be well enough 
to attend. The week rolls round : the game 
hunt is very successful ; birds, turkeys, ducks, 
squirrels, rabbits, and hIacJchirdSj almost with- 
out number, are brought in to the committee 
of superintendence. The tables are well laid, 
and decorated with fancy cookmg, got up 
under the skilful supervision of a lady from 
Worcester. A pie made entirely of black- 
birds is an object of general interest. Whether 
there were the proper nursery number, of 
^^ four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in one 
pie," I am not able to learn. But the party 
was very successful, and most satisfactory to a 
larger number of people than ever before met 
for amusement in this territory — many of 
the guests coming thirty-five miles. The 
good "Uncle Jeff" does not forget those at 
the cabm, whose appetites have outgrown 
" toast and tea," but brings in a dish which, 
if not a portion of tJie blackbirds, is quite pal- 
atable enough to satisfy even more particular 
people than those he serves so kindly. 

By way of experiment upon the returned 
strength of our nerves, we have had two 
shelves put up for the dishes, and a floor 



IN KANSAS. 93 

spread over the whole of the chamber. It 
was really quite a test of strength, and the 
nailmg down of the floor was set aside. Now 
comes a heavy rain. How dull and dark 
everything seems, and how the rain beats 
against this cabin, as though it had some es- 
pecial spite to vent. By way of pastime, we 
open the great seal-skin trunk, where, in the 
folds of sheets, pillow-cases, and napkins, are 
smuggled away bits of choice China, — choice, 
not only for its intrinsic value, but from long 
association. I believe we are all startled to 
find how large a portion of it is crushed in 
pieces. As it settles down in my lap from the 
folds of the linen, so utterly ruined, I scatter 
it through the cracks of the floor, where the 
mice carry on their domestic arrangements. 
Now we reckon up that which remains per- 
fect and find we shall have enough for our 
own use, and quite as much as the shelves 
will hold. Five of your beautiful cups and 

four saucers, three of Miss Sallie C 's cups, 

only, and seven saucers, out of a dozen. What 
would the precise old lady say, could she look 
doAvn into the mice-territory under this cabin, 
where ghsten the fragments of what adorned 



94 SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS. 

her table so many years ? Two tumblers we 
find whole, one saltcellar, and plenty of plates. 
How rich we feel ! and how we begin to 
look forward, as well as backward, to a condi- 
tion of civihzed housekeeping! And how, 
too, my dear mother, the olden-time house- 
keeping comes to me, as a Sabbath-rest time, 
which will by some process, come round to 
me again, — when you will preside, as of old, 
and this me keep house within the circle of your 
atmosphere. Till then, give your blessing to 
your daughter. 

H. A. R. 



THE MISSOUEI INVASION. 



November 4th, 1855. 

My Dear Mother: — This is the first Sab- 
bath in November, and we are having a pour- 
ing, beating, eastrwind rain, — quite an unu- 
sual quarter from which to '^ scare-up " a rain, 
or a wind even, in this region of the world. 
Our roof does not leak ; but the east side of 
the cabin is its weak side. The shakes are 
not so closely packed; and the newspapers 
which we pasted on so carefuUy are loosening 
with the united action of wind and rain. I 
am already shding off the papers, scattered 

in such profusion by Mr. C 's friends about 

him, so as to have some to faU back upon 
when the sun comes out again, and the wind, 
getting weary, falls asleep. The inmates of 
the cabin are all dressed to-day. Night-gowns 
have rolled themselves up meekly and van- 
ished under imaginary pillows. The contents 
of the dressing-gown, packed into the great 
rocking-chair, with giddy head and shaking 

(95) 



96 SIX MONTHS 

hand, strives to get up a magnetic grasp of your 
hand and a breath of the repose which, ever 
and always, hovers over the room where my 
mother Hves. 

I could not ^vrite any more yesterday. We 
had a great many callers, gentlemen to see 

Mr. C , and we all grew too weary to 

make ourselves agreeable, either by talking 
or writing. E. has been in quite early this 
morning to attend to poor Mr. Hadley. From 
E.'s account, I think he must be near the last of 
his journey. I hoped in a day or two to go to 
see him, he is so very near. But now, while 
I write, there comes a tap at the door, which 
(we all being invalids), I answer, with a cheer- 
ful " Come." The door is opened by a young 
lad about E.'s age ; a stranger. He asks, " Is 
this Mrs. E.? " To which I respond, " Yes." He 
steps in, bringing a clean shirt in his hand, 
and, laying it upon my lap, asks if I will 
"Please put buttons to it, as it is wanted for 
Mr. Had ley's shroud." The work-basket is 
lifted do^vn from a nail on the beam over my 
head ; and, while I select the proper buttons, 
the young man tells me he was alone with the 
d3dng man, and that he lived but a few mo- 



IN KANSAS. 97 

ments after E. came away. And now I sit 
here seeing the men of years^ who should not 
have left these young hands to the sad work 
of closing dying eyes, go to prepare the poor, 
woiji-out body for its safe and last repose. 

Poor Hadley! and poor everybody who 
comes away from home to die among stran- 
gers. I am glad he had so little consciousness, 
and I give thanks that heaven is as easily 
reached from Kansas as from any other point 
under the sun. I never, in feeding the poor 
creature, could forget that somewhere, per- 
haps, he had a mother, or a wife, or a daugh- 
ter, whose heart would wither from never 
knowing his final end. So long as I have 
known him, he has never had clearness of 
mind sufficient to tell his o^vn story. 

Now the picture changes again. The door 

opens to admit Grove L , the Governor's 

private secretary. He is always welcome, 
with his pleasant smile, showing a wealth of 
teeth, and his ringing voice, full of the ele- 
ments of music. He throws off his blanket, 
and says he is "bound to stay." I look at 
him with a bewildering stare, which he an- 
swers back by saying he is sick, and his death, 



98 SIX MONTHS 

(should he fail to impress the necessity on his 
part, and the duty on mine) must be inevitable. 
I point up to the loft, as the only resort at 
night. He gives a spring up the bars, looks 
about, and comes do^vn quite satisfied. 

At night he brings his buffalo, chair, and 
some books. The great chair is drawn near 
enough to the stove to tend the toasting-forks, 
and the bread, nicely browned, is passed from 
one to another, till those who drink milk, and 
those who content themselves mth Kansas 
tea, are all supplied. Night settles down upon 
us. The pinched and faded cheeks of little 
Alice are the first to be laid away behind the 
piano cover, — which indeed makes a nice bed- 
room of that corner of the cabin. Then Mr. 
C , broken to the merest wreck of man- 
hood by his protracted and exciting sickness, 
is established in the warm corner near the 
stov^. Dressing-gown hangs itself, with tall dig- 
nity, upon a nail, while night-gowns have their 
turn. The cabin is still. Good Uncle Jeff 
has taken care for us all, and at last drawn 
out his pillow of wood, rolled himself up in 
his buffalo, and is sleeping, as the honest 
soul always should, the even sleep of child- 
hood. 



IN KANSAS. 99 

There is peace in the cabin, my dear mother. 
"The angels of the Lord encamp aromid 
about those who fear liim." Far off across 
the river, in my wakefulness, I hear the 
whoop of the Indian, or the echo of a rifle ; 
or quite as often, the quarrelling sound of 
angry and hungry wolves. We accustom 
ourselves to new and disagreeable things with 
wonderful facility. The mouse, that I have 
just ordered off my bed, is no longer an ob- 
ject of terror, but simply a disagreeable fad^ 
such as one meets with, in some form, every 
day of one's life. 

I now calculate the amount necessary for 
breakfast, for the fastidious little company in 
the cabin; remember with relief the large 
loaf of light bread not yet encroached upon ; 
the beef, from which the best steak can be 
cut, if needed ; the corn-cake which can be 
stirred in a moment if begged for; and 
sleep, so coveted, comes in and puts out my 
lamp. 

Nov. Wi. — We are having a very soft air, 
and the most charming weather: no frosts, 
and as warm as your June. It gives no 



100 SIX MONTHS 

strength to invalids, however, and they get 
sad under it. There is but httle to interest 
minds weakened by long disease. No pleas- 
ant suites of rooms to Avalk through; no 
book-shelves to look over, or books of plates, 
to beguile the time hanging so heavily ; no 
seats out doors to sit upon and chat ; no daily 
mail to stir one's blood, when the announce- 
ment is, that the " mail is open." 

But here comes Typhoid, tall beyond any 
woman I ever saw. An Indian head and hair, 
and a fine set of teeth. She has a bro^vn veil 
tied under her chin, and a shawl thrown about 
her person. We always welcome Typhoid. 
She comes -with an earnest message this time. 
One of the party who arrived from the East, 
that bitter cold week, has been there sick ever 
since; no one has taken particular care of 
him, and now the Doctor pronounces his dis- 
ease, which is Congestion of the Lungs, so she 
said, incurable. Could I go over and see him? 
To be sure I would if possible. The hood is 
drawn on, the dressing go^vn exchanged for 
the dark print hke yours, my shawl twisted 
tightly, by the zealous boy, around me, and 
with him for a body-guard, we start out. 



IN KANSAS. 101 

We prefer to go into the main street, so 
long unseen, and mark the progress of things. 
Every step or two I stop and take an observa- 
tion and give vent to an emotion of surprise 
that so much is doing. A city, just one year old, 
working up so many nice little stone dwel- 
ling-houses and more ambitious stores ! A 
hotel, too, with its windows all glazed, and its 
black-walnut doors shining with the polish of 
oil ! I have to scramble over great piles of 
sand, and heaps of the homesick-looking hme- 
stone. All sorts of merchantable matters 
hang and lie about all sorts of curious look- 
ing shops. Plenty of Missouri market-wag- 
ons stand up and down the street. "Ned," 
said I, "has anybody dug a well ? " "Have n't 
heard," was the boy's reply. When shall 
the want of water be met ? Will this gen- 
eration produce no "Jacob," who has phi- 
lanthropy enough to do so praisworthy an 
act ? I 'm sure he would deserve to have for 
his epitaph those concise words : " He digged 
a well." 

But here we are at the door of the sick man. 
He is in the chamber we occupied during 
our first week in Kansas — a thin, woman- 

9* 



102 SIX MONTHS 

featured face • light hair in profusion^ clammy 
with perspiration; not more than twenty- 
three years old. To my inquiries, he said 
with politeness, he was very well, " a httle 
crowded, just a Uttle; it's choking-lil^e to be 
crowded;" and he looked about the room. 
" What crowds you ? " I said. He shook his 
head and said: "Beds, Beds — very little 
room — great many beds ! " 

" To wet his mouth and smooth the clothes 
was all that could be done; and we came 
away from hmi. He has a brother somewhere 
in the territory ; but, so far, no clue whereby 
to find him has been discovered. If we could 
only borrow a telegra23h wire from you who 
are so rich in means and apphances of inter- 
communication, or an express-train, just for 
one day, then this poor youth should receive 
the care and love of his brother. What can 1 
do for hmi? is the question unanswered, as 
we take a cross-way home, no longer cogni- 
zant of the outer working of poor human 
hands upon mortar, Hme-stone and timber. 
This poor youth, "crowded," as he says; look- 
ing with dim and wistful eyes over his shoul- 
der, with the weight on his breaking faculties 



IN KANSAS. 103 

of crowding beds in his sick-room, which 
should be so orderly and peaceful. What has 
the poor fellow done, that thus in his last 
hours he should be so thrust out of home 
and place ? It is so pleasant to give the de- 
parting, the outward semblance of a Saturday- 
evening readiness and peace, in the arrange- 
ments of their rooms and persons, so that 
'•^ carJijl' to one so weary, ^^ere the day be- 
gins to dawn," the sweet repose of the Sab- 
bath may be entered upon by anticijDation. 

William DiUon, what can I do for thee ? 
poor, tired, dying emigrant! "CroivdedP' crowd- 
ed indeed ! I come home to think of this new 
type of suffering. ^^If his brother — if his 
brother could only be found ! " I say, as in 
my powerlessness I come in to the care of my 
own slowly-recovering invalids. I excite 
their S3nii23athies by telhng them the story 
of tired, crowded, dymg William Dillon, of 
Michigan. They forget their own miserable 
feelings, in view of his more desolate condi- 
tion, and begin to recount the riches of the 
cabin. 

Nov, lOtk — You wiU be glad with me, my 



104 SIX MONTHS 

dear mother, when I announce the sudden arri- 
val of Mr. Dillon. Do you remember a favor- 
ite expression of grandmother^ that "Man's 
extremity is God's opportunity I " No one here 
knew where Mr. Dillon went. The two broth- 
ers arrived here as travellers, with a crowd of 
emigrants, in a most severe "spell" of weather. 
William, being slightly unwell, remained ; the 
other went his way. Three weeks passed. 
People came and went again from the little 
hotel; the reserved and quiet sick man attract- 
ed no one to him enough to communicate 
his history; so that, when he became very 
much worse and his mind broke down, he 
could only tell what was known before, that 
he had an elder brother who went up fur- 
ther into the Territory. To-day this brother 
suddenly appeared. He is wholly overcome 
to find his brother so low. Says he had an 
impression so strong that his cold had become 
a serious sickness, that he could iiot remain 
where he was, at St. Joseph's, and came back 
to learn the truth. William recognized him, 
and seemed to rally so much that even the 
physician thought he might recover. But it 
was only the sudden light and warmth stirred 



IN KANSAS. 105 

by the emotion of family affection, giving a 
glow to brighten his last hours. At twelve 
he ate quite freely from the hand of his 
brother, and talked jDleasantly. At five he 
closed his eyes peacefully, to open them on 
scenes where he will never '^ chill " any more, 
or feel that smothering crowdedness he so 
significantly expressed in liis manner, when 
he looked at the number of beds about him. 

It seems to me now, as though it was not 
so much the iliings there were about him, as 
the discordant, unsjonpathizing atmosphere, 
which would most naturally arise from the 
ever-shifting occupants of those travellers' 
berths. 

Nov. lUk — Our life is a November day, 
tearful, lowering, and imcertain; promising 
faintly, and never renewing earnestly our faith 
in a clean and genial sky. My little Alice is 
not so well. It does not seem to be the re- 
sult of a cold, or in any way a relapse. There 
is an entire change of symptoms. For three 
weeks past she has simply been laid aside 
with some fever. She has had bright red 
cheeks a portion of the day, and no appetite, 



106 SIX MONTHS 

together with a total loss of her usual aniniation. 
The getting up was, like her going down, not 
very decided ; but she went out to look after 
her pets with some of her former interest. I 
do not think I have ever told you about a dog 
which came here quite of his own accord. 
One day a Missourian called with his market- 
cart, to sell apples and potatoes. He had a 
fine dog with him, which, as he was hot, 
walked into the next cabin, which was quite 
unfinished, and laid down to sleep. That cabin 
is owned by a wicked-looking man from Ala- 
bama, and occupied by another fellow of much 
less capacity, from Hhnois. The last-mentioned 
man was the one who came and finished out 
the floor, which I think I wrote you about. 
This man took possession of the dog till Mis- 
souri had gone home; or, to use his own 
words, he ^^ stole him." The dog would not, 
however, acknowledge him as master ; but, as 
soon as he was turned out, came and joined 
hunself to AUce. It seemed a genuine first 
love on both sides. Wherever she went, he 
followed ; and at night laid himself down close 
to the cabin door of cloth, and kept faithful 
watch till morning. No creature could come 



IN KANSAS. 107 

near without his giving the alarm, in a deep 
and terrible growl. He is very large, marked 
from nose to the end of his tail in rings of 
two shades of tan color, most beautifully shad- 
ed. So we gave him the name of "Tiger." 

In process of time, Alabama came to live 
with IlHnois ; and as they were in the habit 
of slaughtering cattle, he took up Tiger, and 
tied him near the meat, to protect it. All 
night long the poor fellow howled so as to dis- 
turb the whole house. The greatest cruelty 
was shown to the dog, because he would not 
stay with them ; as though there was a royal 
road along which love and devotion could be 
driven! Ten days since, Alabama turned 
himself east as far as the old home of Illinois, 
they having made an exchange of some prop- 
erty ; and our loving, beautiful, brave Tiger 
was tied into the wagon and transported also. 
Alice has never talked about him, since he was 
hopelessly gone. But now my little mountain 
daisy is very sick ; she cannot turn herself in 
bed ; and I watch by her, feehng as though I 
had brought her into this strange country to 
wither and die ! In her fever-turns, her mind 
wanders back to old and pleasanter objects, 



108 SIX MONTHS 

and she says continually^ "Please take me 
home ; oh^ I want to go so much !" At times, 
it seems quite impossible for her to recover ; 
but then, again, she brightens up, seems more 
comfortable, and the utter impossibility to 
conceive of myself trudging along in the world 
without her, gives me temporary faith to be- 
lieve that she will recover. 

For two months we have slept upon straw, 
with our skirts folded at night, to make pil- 
lows, and every garment within reach spread 
about us, to keep off the piercing winds, which, 
from the non-arrival of our boxes, put our lives 
in peril. 

There is one impression to which my friends, 
in writing, often allude: it is this — that I 
looked too much on the bright side of Kansas 
life, and should thus suffer more in the reahty. 
Mother, I don't believe you see me in that 
light. There must be a defect in me, whereby 
I sometimes give an impression quite opposite 
to what I intend. I suppose, if I was going to 
have a hmb amputated, instead of looking for- 
lorn, and uttering sighs and moans, I should 
be more likely to joke and laugh over the 
matter; quite as much to keep up my own 



IN KANSAS. 109 

spirits, as those who might chance to be with 
me. Yoit would understand, from instinct, that 
it was simply one way of " putting the best 
foot forward." 

How strange it is, to be sitting here, holding 
in my hand a pen, wherewith I reheve myself 
by saying anything I please to you; laying 
aside, very often, this same pen, which seems 
to my spirit to actually touch you, that I may 
moisten the parched lips lying close by my 
side, powerless to do anything more than 
accept the cooling draught. The kind phy- 
sician comes in often and sits awhile ; but gives 
no medicine. She has taken nothing but the 
drops of water for nine days; and all her 
requests are, "Please take me home; please 
take me home." Mr. C , slowly recover- 
ing, sits down by her, and promises to take her 
home before Christmas. She believes in him. 
Man is ever a gospel to woman from her earli- 
est youth. But how shall he redeem his 
promise ? 

JVbv. 21st — My dear mother, to-day's mail 
brought your invaluable letter, which has been 
read very often, m curious little scraps of time; 

10 



110 SIX MONTHS 

coming out from my pocket while waiting for 
the boihng of the tea-kettle, or between the 
turnings of the toasting bread, the frying grid- 
dle-cakes, the handing up a hot meal from the 
fire to the hungry sitters around the table, or 
the waiting upon the faded blossom stretched 
away in the tented corner — now giving hope 
of a slow return to health, pleading no longer 
simply for water, but bread, too. Poor Httle 
blossom, what wanted I for thee here, that you 
are coming again upon the feverish track, 
where all wear out a weary or disastrous life ? 
She has taken your little note and read it very 
carefuUy. Now she talks much about you, 
and your nice room, and of all the family. 
What strong affections she has ! what shall we 
do with them ? 

You will be glad to hear that Mr. C is 

sufficiently recovered to go up into the Terri- 
tory. K I supposed it would interest you half 
as much to hear of the progress of State mat- 
ters, as I flatter myself it does to hear about 
our domestic arrangements, I 'm sure I would 
pay more attention to all that is going on out- 
side the cabin. 

Since the fall elections Missomians have 



IN KANSAS. Ill 

kept very quiet^ coming up here to supply us 
with plenty of very fine apples, potatoes, poor 
butter, and ordinary flour; making quite a 
thriving business out of it, and, as I have sup- 
posed, settling down into the conclusion which 
we all do, when we learn to know people — 
that they are better than we expected. Last 
week, however, a man living about six miles 
from here upon a claim, while walking towards 
a blacksmith's shop, was shot down by a party 
of Missom^ians, without any provocation. The 
border Missourians are a horseback people; 
always off somewhere ; drink a great deal of 
whiskey, and are quite reckless of human life. 
There is no necessity for hard work to those 
who have long Hved in this country, the earth 
yields so very abundantly. They ride fine 
horses, and are strong, vigorous-looking ani- 
mals themselves. To shoot a man is not much 
more than to shoot a buck. After killing this 
poor Yankee, they stood around him till they 
saw a man approach, and then rode deliberate- 
ly away. He who first came to the dying 
man went immediately to Mr. Branscome's, 
where the man had boarded. The two car- 
ried the body home. Nothing was done about 



112 SIX MONTHS 

it, any way, to my knowledge. This week, on 
Tuesday night, some one loiocked at Brans- 
come's cabin-door. He asked, " Who is there ?" 
The reply was, "A friend." This again was 
repHed to with a cheerful "Come in, then," 
though it was in the night-time, after people 
had retired. Immediately the Httle cabin was 
filled with armed men; the foremost one, going 
close to the bed, presented a loaded pistol to 
the head of Branscome, commanding liim to 
rise and dress quickly, for he was a prisoner. 
Of course, the man did as he was commanded ; 
left his poor wife, and was mounted upon a 
horse foimd ready for him by the party. 
Meanwhile the party, consisting of less than 
twenty, were full of expressions of regret that 
no "Yankees" were there to have some fun 
with. Ofiicer Jones and his men took first 
one road, then another. Branscome became 
fully persuaded that his days were numbered, 
but sat quietly upon his horse, knowing resist- 
ance was quite in vain. It was not long before 
the oft-expressed wish of the Missourians was 
most singularly gratified. A portion of the 
Wakarusa militia company had been over to 
see about the murdered man, and were riding 



IN KANSAS. 113 

home quietly, by the usual route, when they 
met the Missourians, asked "Who goes?" and 
were answered, "We have a prisoner." 

"Who is it?" 

"Mr. Branscome." 

The captain of the company said, "Mr. 
Branscome, ride out here." Mr. Branscome 
rode forward — the sheriff protesting against 
the order, but refusing to give any reason for 
the arrest; at the same time swearing he 
would shoot him if he moved. Mr. Abbot 
then rephed, "We are all armed, and shall take 
Mr. Branscome into our ranks." He then 
ordered him off the horse, if it was not his 
own. Branscome immediately dismounted. 
Capt. Abbot commanded him to fall mto his 
ranks and " march." The party from Missouri, 
wholly discomfited, and having had quite 
enough of "fun" with the Yankees, offered no 
farther resistance. 

In the short hours of the night, the sound 
of a drum came from afar to my wakeful ears, 
nearer and nearer, but still not like the rapid 
call of a company together. It was simply 
one beat, then a pause. The young man who 
calls the drum-roll was asleep in the loft over 

10* 



114 SIX MONTHS 

my head. I was not kept long in suspense^ for 
he " beat " quite early, to call a citizens' meei^ 
ing. Lawrence was up and dressed carif/, 
and as wide awake as liis ancestors of Seventy- 
six. 

The prisoner, and those who came to the 
rescue, were called upon to state the facts, 
after w^hich my two young friends. Grove 

L and M. F. C , made most effective 

speeches. I learn that they did themselves 
much credit. 

I dare say you may have heard Lawrence 
spoken of as an ultra, headstrong young sprig, 
who is always treading upon his neighbors' 
corns, or otherwise exciting to a fuss. But 
there never was a greater mistake. Lawrence 
is a hard-working, mind -his -own -business, 
money-loving fellow. K he hits your toes, it 
is not from design, but because his boots 
are stiff and clumsy and his manner any- 
thing but graceful or fascinating. Lawrence 
has seen hard times in his youth ; has been 
laughed at by his more prosperous neighbors, 
till the ragged urchin made a bad matter 
worse by wasting some considerable emotion 
upon the subject ; looked round fearfully and 



IN KANSAS. 115 

almost imploringly, to see if " Uncle Sam," or 
some other relative, would not give a hand 
to help him out on better footing. But Uncle 
Sam has grown old, gouty, and unfeeling. 
Much prosperity and too liigh living puts him 
to nodding in his chair. Alas for his far-off 
frontier children, when they have only him to 
look to ! And New England, dear New Eng- 
land, the very dust of which is most precious 
to LaAvrence ! the whir of her looms, the rat- 
tle of her mills, the steam of her numberless 
engines, make such a noise that poor, awkward 
Lawrence's cry for help is quite unheeded, 
except, perhaps, in the passing of a few well- 
sounding resolutions, which remind one of 
champagne, long exposed to the air, from 
which the life and sparlde is gone forever. 

Lawrence sits down in his cabin. His floor 
is of cotton-wood, rough and unwashed; his 
venison and beef hang upon the wall; his 
vegetables, in baskets over his head. Law- 
rence hstens, with ears sharpened by intense 
longing, for sympathy and aid where nature's 
great heart prompts him to look for it, — from 
his km. He reads how New England thrusts 
her hand into well-filled pockets, and, with 



116 SIX MONTHS 

self-gratulation, not to say pharasaical pride, 
takes out thousands to send to the sick at 
Norfolk, who are surrounded with cities roUing 
in wealth, where a sacrifice of any triflmg 
pleasure would supply many such sorely tried 
and afflicted cities with any amount of assist- 
ance. Lawrence lifts his eyes from the cot- 
ton-board floor, with a new light in them. He 
thinks of all his suffering brothers and sisters, 
from this to the Rocky Mountains, sick and in 
want of all things, — no nurses, no water, no 
comfortable shelter, no pleasant sounds of 
church-bells, or busy marts of thrifty trade, to 
bring back receding life, and, more than all, 
no ever-returning word of cheer and remem- 
brance from the home that was first and most 
dear ; and, as he reflects, Lawrence is startled 
by the soimd of violence within his own pre- 
cincts. He sat down a homesick, disheartened 
youth. He had asked hel23 from the agent 
of his great uncle at Washington, without 
success. Now the hour for action has come, 
and he rises, passes out of his cabin, armed 
like a man, ready to defend his rights Ifl^e a 
man, — and may Heaven speed the right! 
My dear mother, this is Saturday evening. 



IN KANSAS. 117 

I am alone in the cabin with the faded Daisy. 
She has been up for the first time to-day, and 
borne her weight by taking hold of different 
objects to support her. Now she gladly takes 
her place again upon her couch, close by the 
stove, and sleeps quietly. Her mind is still 
very weak and child-like; — child-like, to be 
sure, it always is ; and the exciting condition 
of the town, our o^vn wakeful nights, do not 
affect her with any emotion of fear. How 
strange it will seem to you to hear that I have 
loaded pistols and a bowie-knife upon my 
table at night, three of Sharp's rifles, loaded, 
standing in the room, and two or three men 
in the cabin beside Edward, except when it is 
their turn to keep guard through the httle 
town. All the week every preparation has 
been made for our defence ; and everybody is 
worn with want of sleep. 

The Missourians have taken awful oaths to 
destroy this Yankee town, and a price is set 
upon the heads of some of our most honored 
citizens. Already they have assembled to the 
number of two hundred at Franldin, a httle 
town south of us, and many more at Douglas, 
a \dllage farther up the river. They are mov- 



118 SIX MONTHS. 

ing with great secretiveness ; but when was a 
Yankee "caught nappmg," m the faintest 
prospect of danger ? 

Last night our watch were cheered by the 
arrival of fifteen armed men from Ottoman 
Creek, who heard of the threatened danger 
and travelled till midnight to offer their aid. 
And to-day tAvice that number marched in 
with a flag, from Palmyra, another settle- 
ment fifteen miles from this. Paschal Fish, 
too, who lives ten miles nearer Missouri than 
Lawrence, has heard the rumors, watched with 
his Indian keenness the JVIissourian movement, 
mounted his pony, ridden up to see us, and 
offered to muster out some of his tribe, to be 
on the spot to-morrow. The Wyandott tribe 
have sent in one of their number to offer as- 
sistance, which is most thankfully accepted. 

Your Thanksgiving evening, while you were, 
I am sure, talking and thinking of us, I sat 
here alone, watcliing by Alice, pale and faint, 
with the sounds of fire-arms coming every few 
moments from some direction. Standing at 

my door, C 's Httle black pony, saddled, 

ready for any moment, has kept me company 
all the week. He puts his nose against me in 



IN KANSAS. 119 

the most kindly manner every time I have 
occasion to go out; and we talk long talks 
together, he always seeming to end the matter 
by saying, " Keep heart, I can take you any- 
where you wish to go. 

To-night everybody is at the hall. My 
orders are, if fire-arms sound lil^e battle, to 
place Alice and myself as near the floor as 
possible, and be well covered with blankets. 
We already have one bullet in the wall, and, 
since that, one struck the ^^ shakes " close by 
the bed's head and glanced off. Now, for the 
first time, I begin to take an interest in Law 
rence, as a city ; and, prospectively, her des- 
tiny is almost as my own. How well her 
men bear themselves, in the settlement of 
every question which is pressed upon them, 
now so important as a matter of national his- 
tory. I can but hear and know of their 

plans, because Lieut. C and Grove L 

are a part of our family, and are among the 
most active workers. They come in to tall^, 
consult with others, and write, if need be. 
Sometimes things assrnne a most amusing as- 
pect; as when, after a serious charge to be 
sure and wake them up if the drum beats, 



120 SIX MONTHS 

I, hardly daring to close my eyes, at last, half- 
asleep, hearing the most fiendish outcry ever 
borne upon the moon-lit night air, call aloud, 
" Yf ake up, quickly ! there is trouble of some 
kind, for nothing but a Missourian could utter 
such sounds this side of the infernal regions ! " 
and the cabin is astir in an instant, — only to 
laugh at me, because the unearthly sounds arc 
only those of a party of wolves taking a sur- 
vey of the city at midnight. 

Dee. UJi. — Mother of mine, I can hardly 
settle down to the details of our own matters. 
Everything over the town, and every rumor 
borne in to us from outside of it, is more and 
more dark and fearful. We now have an 
armed force of five hundred men, who are 
under the command of Dr. Eobinson, now 
commander-in-chief, and Col. Lane, both of 
whom have had experience in actual battle, 
in Mexico and California. Out of my south 
window I can see them drilling ; far off it is, 
on the prairie ; but you know we have a wide 
scope of observation. There is not a tree any- 
where to be seen ; and, as I look, the expected 
Indian tribe rides in, single file, at full gallop. 



IN KANSAS. 121 

How well they ride ! It is difficult to imag- 
ine them man and horse. They seem to be 
one, so closely does each rider cling to the 
well-trained animal he loves so well and passes 
so much of his life with. 

The sun is just putting on his night-cap, 
and smiles back on the terraced hills ere he 
sinks to rest. Now the militia march back into 
the httle town which they have come to defend. 
Alice is asleep ; Ned busy at the door. I put 
on my hood and slip across to a nearer point, 
that I may see better. It is the first time out 
doors since she sickened ; or rather, since I 
went to see William Dillon. I enter the little 
hotel where Dillon died. The landlady takes 
me by both hands, with a pocket-full of ques- 
tions, dra-^vn out one after another in quick 
succession, giving me no time to answer. Her 
gentle heart is fluttered with fear and kind- 
ness, too 1 She does not want anybody hurt, 
and she does not want her house torn down 
over her head. She beHeves, still holding my 
hands, I can settle the matter for her ; which 
is in a measure done by pleasant jokes, a 
hearty laugh at her fears (hypocrite that I 
am, holding at the same moment my own 
11 



122 SIX MONTHS 

troubled and faint heart,) and, last of all, by 
reference to the better guidance which does 
not forget or forsake us m the hour of need, 
but, if trusted, keeps us in the hollow of His 
hand, and guides us with His eye. "We draw 
close to the window as the soldiers pass by to 
the tune played long, long ago by the mihtary 
band in our native village, far off from this ; 
but not farther than this woman who writes 
to you is from the httle girl who used to hang 
out of her bed-room window and listen to the 
march, beheving it the finest music in the 
world. — Mother, how fast I am catching up to 
you! almost as old now — don't you see? We 
will live together when we are old, won't we ? 
But what a long hue of men it is ! Not noisy; 
and there is no rabble of boys at the roadsides. 
Boys there are in the ranks ; but the soberness 
of manhood is upon them, and the determina- 
tion of " Seventy-six " in their step. The 
blood warms in my veins as I look. The com- 
mander and his aids (one of whom is Grove 

L , as brave and noble a heaii as ever 

strode a horse for battle) look well. And 
now, — yes, it can be no other, — passes the 
prophetrhead and flowing beard. I accept it 



IN I^LANSAS. 123 

as a good omen, slip out of the door in the 
side of the '^ tuen" and am at home in a mo- 
ment. L is close upon my path, with 

another officer, by the name of Deitzler. 

C is sitting with Alice ; Ned is cutting up 

a pumpkin for the cow's supper. But my 
presence scares them all up, with the remark, 
" Shall we have any supper ? " " To be sure 
you shall have some supper, in fifteen min- 
utes." My tea-kettle is in my hand as I speak, 
and filled and placed in the stove before I 
take ofi" my hood, a pan of biscuits thrust into 
the oven as I unpin it, and, when it is laid aside 
with my shawl, I uncover my wash-boiler, and 
draw up from its capacious depths a piece of 
corned beef This is cut thin, and a plate of 
butter and a sheet of gingerbread are brought 
out, and your cups are spread out on the 
black-walnut board. The tea-pot is steaming 
on the top of the stove, and a pot of cocoa. 
My fifteen minutes are not out ; but the fam- 
ily are ready and the officers in haste. There 
is to be a council of war at seven o'clock ; and 
they say every token indicates action. 

Teams coming up from Kansas City to-day, 
loaded with freight for our merchants, have 



124 SIX MONTHS 

been stopped by the mob tented near Frank- 
lin, and looked over ; all bags of powder and 
other ammunition taken out, receipted for, 
and the teams aUowed to go on; and teams of 
provision — apples, flour, and potatoes, stopped 
entirely. You see, mother, Lawrence is a very 
forbearing fellow, not to go down to Franklin 
and drive the brutes home about their busi- 
ness. But our peojole all say, w^e prepare for 
a defensive war, not an aggressive one. 

So, then, supper is over. L takes up 

his constant companions, his belt Avith pistols 
and his rifle; he lingers in the cabin-door for 
a moment, comes back to say " good night ; 
everybody sleeps on their arms to-night in 
the hall." 

" Take your buffalo, then." 

"Yes, thank you, good night. Sleep the 
first part of the night; you may be called." 

I shut the door. C is already nodding 

in his chair. I rouse him, send him up to his 
buffalo. Sleej)y as he is, he does not forget to 
say, " call me if there is a drum-roll. I want 
to have a hand at the threshing of those ras- 
cals if they pounce upon us in the night." 



IN KANSAS. 125 

'^ All, Uncle JeJSf, you won't say your prayers, 
I fear. You were cut out for a cruel soldier." 

Uncle Jeff mounts up the wall-slats, saying, 
" I've written to my mother, that I can't say 
them, and she must keep saying them for 
me ! " Little Daisy is slipping herself out of 
her shoes and stockings ; saying, she is " so 
tked, so very tired ; can she ever ride all the 
way to St. Louis ? and will I make a cahco 
bag for her cakes, so that they will not soil 
her carpet-bag? and how soon do I think 
Uncle Jeff's brother will be back to go home 
with her ? If she could only get there before 
Christmas 1" — "Before Christmas!" 0, where 
will this persecuted people be before Christ- 
mas 1 Daisy does not know the creeping 
chill coming over me. She did not hear my 
question. She is fast asleep. Everybody is 
asleep. It is a long time since I undressed 
reaUy. My dressing-gown bears me company 
nights, now, instead of days ; because I hke 
to be ready. Lucky that I am to-night. The 
door opens, and I open my eyes from my final 

nap. It is L 's cheerful voice, asking me 

as he strikes a light, to help him off on a very 
dangerous express-ride, to present a letter to 
11* 



126 SIX MONTHS 

Governor Shannon, at Westport. I am np in 

a moment. L looks sober, and as though 

fh^ w/^igi^t of years had rolled over him in 
one week. But he speaks up brightly, show- 
ing his fine teeth, which of themselves are a 
smile. I put hmi up a big paper of luncheon, 
for he is to pass into the heart of the enemy's 
country, who would see him die before they 
would give him a crumb of bread or a drop 
even of " cold water." He tells me of the 
council of war ; how nobly all the wise and 
great men of the Territory had assembled ; 
and how firmly they stood by each other. 
The first step to be taken, was, to address a 
letter of inquiries to Governor Shannon, to 
know why these tents of armed men were 
infesting our borders, committing depredations 
upon our people and harassing travellers who 
were going about their business ; and request- 
ing him to order their removal. The com- 
mander-in-chief appointed L to be the 

bearer of this despatch; and Babcock, the 
post-master, goes mth him, probably with 
other despatches. 

It is nearly twelve; a cloudy, lowering 
night, with gusts of chilly wind sweeping over 



IN KANSAS. 127 

the country. Our out-posts bring in word 
that our enemies are in a drunken row at 

Franldin. L must go past them. He 

knows their password ; but it is a dangerous 
trip. Perhaps no better person could have 
been chosen. But he seems Hke my own boy, 
and my selfishness wishes they had chosen 
some one I did not know. I have this satis- 
faction, he will do himself honor wherever he 
goes and whatever is the result. I give him 
my blessing ; while he says, quite in short-hand^ 
" You will write to them all, if I do not re- 
turn." I promise, and he passes out into the 
starless, moaning night. 

Every one in the cabin has slept through it 
all ; but my eyes are set open for the rest of 
the night. I hear the mounted guard ride 
round our cabin, with slow steps, as though 
they did not wish to wake the inmates. I 
hsten as they advance out into the now 
dreary country. I hear distant fire-arms, and 
then more near. I know, now, that Missouri- 
ans are just mean and cowardly enough to 
creep in upon us in the night ; or to fire, as 
they have done, upon our watch, riding off as 
soon as they have done it. I wish Frank 



128 'SIX MONTHS m KiVNSAS. 

Pierce had to stand on an open prairie and 
take his chance with better men. But that is 
not a good spirit to go to sleep oil — so I dis- 
miss it. I will close this, as there is a chance 
to send by express. 

Yours devotedly, h. a. r. 



MURDER OF BARBOUR.— THE TRUCE. 

December, 1855. 

Dear Mother of mine^ — I yesterday closed 
a long package for you, sending it by private 
conveyance. But I should now feel as much 
lost without a letter begun to you, as I should 
be without knitting-work; and, as I invari- 
ably weave the stitches of a new stocking 
prosjoectively upon the needles from which 
one has just been completed, so I now turn 
to the table where are the papers, from which 
I hptve withdrawn all addressed to you, with 
the feeling that I must begin another stock- 
ing upon paper — gathering up the stitches of 
our cabin-hfe, and weaving them into a gar- 
ment which I am quite sure will be warmly 
welcomed by you. 

It is hardly twenty-four hours since L 

started on his perilous mission. But I cannot 
refrain from looking out occasionally for him. 
What absurd things we are always domg! 
He has gone fifty miles ; has no chance of 

(129) 



130 SIX MONTHS 

changing horse; not a very good road; sev- 
eral deep ravines to pass, difficult to cross; and 
a dark night to go over them. Two days cer- 
tainly he must be absent, even if he escape 
the shots of the enemy ; or, what is almost as 
much to be dreaded, being taken prisoner. 
Inside the cabin, everything remains as when 
I last wrote. Daisy gains strength slowly; 
walks like one upon stilts, tipping now this 
way, and now that. I have cut a pile of 
shirts for the boy ; and, as I measure the di- 
mensions, it dawns upon me, that he will not 
always be " the boy," for the size has much 
increased since the last were made. 

Outside the cabin stands the pretty cow, 
Jennie, waiting for the ears of corn she knows 
very well she can coax from me when occa- 
sion calls me to the door. Meanwhile, she 
tugs slily at the bag, hoping to secure a morsel 
at once. Snuggled close by her is her six- 
months-old calf, for whom she seems to have 
more affection than other cows ; or perhaps it 
may be because I never took so much notice 
of the relation between a cow and calf before. 
In this unfenced country, the only way to de- 
coy a cow home, is, to tie the calf near the 



IN KANSAS. 131 

cabin. Our Jennie would have given up the 
hope of corn or pumpkin^ sooner than the 
pleasure of coming to her baby. The hay- 
stack has still its party of hungry horses, 
diminishing its size at a frightfully rapid rate. 
And what is poor Jennie to do when winter 
sets in ? I will not worry about any future. 
How can I^ when I look over to the little 
town, blockading itself with forts and breast- 
works in every direction. How the men ply 
their shovels, working by turns of fifties, all 
day and all night ! Around each fort, now the 
evening has come, are cords of blazing wood, 
to light them at their labor of defence ; and 
over Fort Lane flutters a banner of stars and 
stripes, as an encouragement, as well as a pro- 
tection. Alas, for the little town ! How long 
could it stand against the power of a strong 
State, bearing down against it ? 

What a piece of news I have just heard 1 
General Pomeroy taken prisoner, and in the 
camp below Franklin ! He was here yesterday 
afternoon — said he was assailed at Westport, 
but frightened away his pursuers by pointing 
his pistol at them ; and, when still nearer this 
place, forded the river three times to escape 



132 SIX MONTHS 

another band of ruffians. He seemed very 
tired, anxious, and uncertain for a time what 
course to pursue. He thought it very import- 
ant for some one to go east for assistance. No 
one offered to go ; and early in the afternoon 
he started off on this eastern enterprise, taking 
quite another route from that which passes 
the Missourian camps, and is usually travelled, 
as being the most direct to Kansas City. He 
crossed the Kansas river from the foot of Mas- 
sachusetts street, landing in the Delaware 
country, intending to go down the course of 
the river on that side. But we have some 
Missourians Hving in this to^vn who act as spies; 
and the General had gone but a short distance 
before he was captured. So much Typhoid 
has communicated; adding, that rumor said 
he was murdered. But I do not believe a 
word of that part. The idea of lynching a 
man so wide-awake and strong as he is, with 
his mild, clear eyes, his brown, good-humored 
face, reminding me always (I hope it won't 
look disrespectful to you, I'm quite sin-e it does 
not seem so to me) of the unreddened jams of 
the old, time-honored fire-places, such as were, 
in the time of wood, before coal was hoisted 



IN KANSAS. 133 

up into stoves for heating family rooms. No, 
I'm not going to believe but that I shall take 
him by the hand again in this world. 

To-day has been as warm and pleasant as 
summer. The door stands open ; cabin house- 
keeping has had a thorough overhauling ; the 
broom has thrust itself into every chink and 
corner, most unceremoniously ; pies are bak- 
ing in the oven; and loaves of bread, just 
drawn from it, stand bottom up upon the 
board covering the flour-barrel. The "New 
York Journal of Commerce" performs the 
office of screening them from the dust-broom. 

Mr. , who has been away up the Territory, 

comes in upon me just as I have iwt finished ; 
the litter being marshalled in the doorway, 
where he must step over it. I am so glad to 
see him ! he has been so kind a friend. He 
comes to say, he is going home to Philadelphia 
at once. Does not look well, and fears sick- 
ness. He will retmn in the spring, with his 
wife. The tea-kettle sings upon the stove 
while we talk. 1 have smuggled the tea-pot, 
with fresh tea, and a portion of that noisy, 
singing tearkettle, applied inwardly, alongside 
of it ; coals are drawn out, the haunch of veni- 

12 



134 SIX MONTHS 

son lifted down from the wall, slices broiled 
quickly, laid upon a hot plate, and placed 
before my pale, tired-looking friend, before 
he is aware of it. The tender meat and tea 
refresh him. We part at the door, he to go 
to his home, I to busy myself with the unsight- 
ly surface of things, underneath which home 
has made a grave, from which there can be no 
resurrection ! 

Well, here is the expected General, safe and 
sound, from the enemy's camp, and from the 
presence of Gov. Shannon ! looking, indeed, as 
though he might have ridden fifty miles in six 
hours, and passed the intervening time of his 
absence without rest or sleep. But he was 
successful in his mission, the Governor promises 
to be here to-morrow. 

And now comes another sorrowful item of 
intelligence. You know I wrote you about 
the faithful guardsmen who watch our little 
town while we sleep. Yesterday, one of them 
who lives upon a claim about six miles distant, 
mounted his horse, wholly unarmed, and 
started towards his home, which he had not 
visited for several days. Out over the wide 
prairie he sped his way, to gladden the hearts 



IN KANSAS. 135 

of his parents and dear wife; when he was 
met by some five or six Missourians, who com- 
manded him to go with them. He answered 
that he was wholly unarmed, and on his route 
home to see his family; and putting spurs to 
his horse he kept on. Poor fellow! he little 
understood the cruel, heartless, dishonorable 
men with whom he had to deal. They aimed 
at the defenceless and wholly unconscious 
young man, and shot him in the back. He 
fell instantly from his horse. The released 
animal kept on his way, and trotted into the 
door-yard of the murdered man's friends. 
They, supposing he had got loose from his 
fastening in town, did not suffer at all from 
anxiety; but, fearing his gentle, timid wife, 
whose tears had hardly ceased to flow during 
the young soldier's absence, might put another 
construction upon this event, wisely kept it 
from her.* 



* This statement I received from a lady with whom Mrs. 
Barbour remained a few days after her husband's murder. I 
have since learned, that two friends were near him when he 
was shot ; that they did not know the ball reached him, until 
he had ridden some rods, when he uttered the cry, " My God ! 
I am a murdered man ! " and immediately slid from his horse 
to the ground ; never spoke again, and breathed a few moments 
only. 



136 SIX MONTHS 

Young Barbour's body was brought into 
town as soon as discovered, and laid away in 
one of the rooms of the new hotel, stretched 
out upon a seat, with his usual clothes upon 
him. He looked like one asleep; for the 
wound, though bleeding most profusely, did 
not disfigure him ; it drew the color from his 
cheeks, that was all. His look of repose was 
even beautiful. He died, performing his duty. 

The wife seemed wholly conscious that he 
was murdered, all the morning before the news 
was conveyed to his friends, though she lives 
six miles or more from here. How to bring 
her in with safety, was a matter of considerable 
imjDortance, as enemies on horseback were sup- 
posed to be out in every direction. As the 
safest expedient, her husband's brothers, I 
think, dressed up in female apparel and accom- 
panied her — women being allowed to pass 
without much question. It is quite impossible 
to describe the agony of this wife. She is a 
delicate, slight-built person, wholly devoted to 
this man ; in fact, it seems to have been a per- 
fect idolatry. Having no children, she cen- 
tered her all of happiness upon him. The sol- 
diers, who were witnesses to her distress, 



m KANSAS. 137 

mingled their tears with her shrieks, while 
their blood stirred, naturally enough, for ven- 
geance upon the murderers. 

Gov. Shannon rides across the prairie with 
his suite and an escort sent out by Gen. Eobin- 
son. He occupies the back seat of a somewhat 
venerable-looking, two-horse buggy ; and with 
the fine-looking horsemen in front and rear, 
makes a very respectable appearance. The 
upper chambers of the hotel are used as head- 
quarters of our Kansas new-made of&cers. 
The windows are open; Gen. Eobinson is pre- 
paring the somewhat restless body of soldier}^, 
occupying the ground in front of the hotel, 
for the reception of Gov. Shannon. He points 
to the moving cavalcade in the distance, and 
says, it is in the hope of a speedy settlement, 
without more bloodshed, that this interview is 
proposed. It is not palatable to these men ; 
for there is but a wall between them and their 
sleeping, murdered comrade. But they honor 
Gen. Robinson, and he curbs their justly indig- 
nant blood, by the power of his own magna- 
nimity. The cavalcade passes through the 
opening crowd, to the hall of the hotel. Gen. 
Robinson comes down to the open door, to 

12* 



138 SIX MONTHS 

receive the Governor, and together they pass 
through the rudely-finished hall, by the mur- 
dered man, up the staircase, into a temporary 
council-chamber. In another chamber, a few 
rods distant, sits the new-made mdow, weeping 
unconsciously ; refusing food with such gentle 
violence as makes one feel as though they 
must gather her into their arms, and hush her 
to a sleep of total forgetfulness ; for the mul- 
titude and noise without, added to her utter 
desolation within, have quite bewildered her. 

Again the crowd open for the men of power 
to pass out. There is a call for cheers for Gov. 
Shannon. The cheering is more like a muffled 
drum, or the toll of bells, than a spontaneous 
outburst from a satisfied people. 

Saturda?/ is this eventful day. When will 
Saturday be the door-keeper of a Sabbath to 
us ? Shall the Sabbath never immigrate ? and 
the Commandments too ? 

The Sabbath-sun has set, and we have gath- 
ered round our cabin-fire, preparatory to a 
quiet evening of reading; when our good 
Doctor and his wife come in to see us. They 
are always welcome ; but now they come, only 
to entice me out to the hotel, where people 



IN KANSAS. 139 

are to be introduced to the Governor, that he 
may judge for himself what kind of settlers 
Lawrence is honored mth ; and, for they have 
a double object, to make some arrangements 
for a peace party to be holden in that building 
on Monday evening. My first reply was in 
the negative. Public places are an aversion 
to me. The book, here by the tallow candle, 
on the quaint old table, is very much more to 
my taste. I offered to bake any amount of 
nicknacks for the party ; but as for this intro- 
duction, what do I care for seeing a man for 
whom I can not reasonably entertain any 
respect. 

No one could resist the quiet pleading of 
our Doctor's wife. So, in half an hour, we 
were all ushered into the council chamber of 
the third story. The room was quite filled 
with ladies. At the farther end stood Gov. 
Shannon. When he shook hands with me, 
he said, " What part of the country are you 
from ? " I repHed, somewhat proudly, '^ From 
that proscribed State, Massachusetts." He 
drew a chair for me, and seated himself by 
my side. He talked very well, rather too com- 
promisingly. Occasionally he turned his head 



140 SIX MONTHS 

suddenly towards the mndow, reminding me 
(I suj)pose it was wicked) of that class of per- 
sons of whom it is written, they "flee when 
no man pursueth;" for it was e\ddent he feared 
something. At last he gave expression to his 
thoughts and fears. A rumor had reached 
him that the people at the Missourian camp 
were so indignant towards him for coming up 
to Lawrence, that they would make an attack 
to-night, and Ijnich him, as w^ell as destroy the 
to^vn ; he had, therefore, as a means of safety, 
sanctioned the commissions of Gen. Robinson 
and his staff, authorizing him to prepare for 
defence. I could not help replying, "You 
should have come to live among your o^^^i 
people, and then this trouble might never 
have come upon us," at the same time assuring 
him there was no man or woman here who 
would not feel bound in honor to protect 
him from every threatened danger. Indeed, 
I felt at the moment as though I could shoul- 
der a rifle or point a pistol in his defence, if 
need be ; not because of the man, but because 
he was the invited guest of Lawrence. 

Gov. Shannon is a tall, well-built person, 
past fifty years of age, hair very gray and 



IN KANSAS. 141 

stiff, coarse features, pleasant eyes, and a be- 
nevolent crown to his forehead. But, to speak 
phrenologically, he has no firmness nor self- 
esteem ; so that, when the baser portion of 
his nature does not rule over his more kindly 
and elevated powers, other people, no matter 
of what party or principle, — just whom he 
happens to be thrown in with, — sway him to 
their purposes. Like those gutta percha 
heads which the children used to have for 
playthmgs, twisting their features into every 
possible shape. Gov. Shannon has a set of 
features, purposes, and actions which are but 
the exponents of those who rule over him p^o 
tern. 

No withstanding the night passed off with- 
out alarm, the Governor did not choose to re- 
main to the party. He gave sanction to our 
officers, and then turned his face towards the 
twelve hundred men who were encamped 
near Franklin, in order to command them to 
disperse. General Robinson and others ac- 
companied him, having his promise that the 
prisoners, among whom was General Pomeroy, 
should be not only released, but placed be- 
yond the reach of the mob. On their arrival, 



142 SIX MONTHS 

General Eobinson, with his usual magnanimity, 
addressed the people, endeavoring to show 
that much of this trouble had gro^Yn out of 
misunderstanding and misrepresentation ; that 
the people on both sides, if they would but 
take the trouble to see and become acquahited 
with each other, would find a better state of 
things existing. He closed his remarks with 
an invitation for any who chose to take the 
trouble, to come to ^^the party," — a party of 
peace and rejoicing that there was to be no 
more blood-shed. 

Mondau^ 12 o'clock at nigJit. — All the morning 
has been used up in various culinary j)repar- 
ations for the peace gathering. There are 
men here from every portion of the Territory; 
and the army is not to be disbanded till this 
offering of gratitude is over. L. came home 
for his supper rather earlier than usual, bring- 
ing with him two gentlemen, one the Mr. 
Jones who holds the office of sheriff under 
Gov. Shannon ; the name of the other gentle- 
man I do not remember. It has not been as 
often sounded in my ears as that of " Sheriff 
Jones." Both, however, were welcome to our 



IN KANSAS. 143 

cabin and to our stereotype supper of tea, 
corn-cake^ and venison broiled upon the hot 
coals of black-walnut wood. As soon as serv- 
ing was over, and my visitors were started off 
to the party, the " cook " took off her apron, 
slipped herself out of the warm folds of a 
woollen sack, — answering in a measure in- 
stead of plastered walls, to keep off the cold, 
— and, in less than half an hour, was intro- 
duced into the famous third-story council- 
chamber, now cheerfully lighted and agreeably 
warmed. Ladies and gentlemen had already 
begun to assemble ; indeed, the whole building 
seemed alive with the hum of human voices. 
The illuminated v/indows sent forth a most un- 
usual light across the night-shadows of the prai- 
rie. Sheriff Jones and his friend were in these 
upper rooms, being introduced to the ladies. 
They are both fine-looking men and of more 
than ordinary good breeding. Gen. Eobinson, 
too, was sho^ving them the attention they 
deserved at his hand, as invited guests. The 
General looked pale and more disturbed tlian 
I thought possible for one of such remarkable 
self-control and courage. It seemed that 
some of the hotel crowd were not ready 



144 SIX MONTHS 

to give up the war spirit, and accept with 
grace the peace-offering of social intercourse 
offered by our great-hearted General to those 
who had arrayed themselves so cruelly against 
us. And, although Sheriff Jones was nothing 
more nor less than an officer, acting under his 
oath of office, he became an apple of discord, 
because he was the only representative of 
Missouri. I have to confess to a feeling of 
mortification, that everybody could not at 
once bridge over the rapid current sweeping 
between these two contending parties, and let 
"by-gones be by-gones." But perhaps this 
feeling came to the surface because I had not 
entered into the atmosphere of bloodshed, and 
had not made the creation of awful "car- 
tridges " the occupation of my leisure hours. 
Col. Lane's voice could be heard in different 
rooms, detailing to eager listeners the most pain- 
ful circumstances of poor Barbour's death, and, 
with wonderful ingeniousness, keeping up the 
wicked spirit of vengeance among those over 
whom he exercised any power. What on 
earth he was driving at by such a course, it 
seemed to my stupid self quite impossible to 
understand ; while, at the same time, I knew 



IN KANSAS. 145 

very well tliat he aimed at something he could 
not otherwise attain so well. Any reader of 
human faces can never study his without a sen- 
sation very much lilvc that with vv^hich one 
stands at the edge of a sHm}^, sedgy, uncertain 
morass. If there is any good in hun, I never, 
with all my industry in culling something 
pleasant from the most unpropitious charac- 
ters, have been able to make the discovery. 
And he has not, in heu of anything better, 
that agreeable fascination of manner which so 
often gives currency in society to men as hol- 
low-hearted as he. Gen. Eobinson stood like 
an aggrieved king. He not only stemmed 
the tide, but rolled back the surging emotions 
of the crowd ; and the meeting closed much 
more like a gathering of peace than at one 
time seemed Hkely. I should like very much 
to have you see Gen. Eobinson. He is honest 
in expression, sunple and unaffected in man- 
ner, and brave as a lion. I have somewhere 
seen a fine engraving of John Knox, stand- 
ing with upHfted finger and solemn, earnest 
rebuke in his countenance, in the presence of 
Queen Mary. The head, profile, and general 

13 



146 SIX MONTHS 

outline of figure are very much that of Gen. 
Eobinson. 

I believe I have forgotten to tell you that 
the funeral of Mr. Barbour was deferred, on 
account of the important business this week 
to be attended to. Another week has closed, 
and the Sabbath calls all people out to pay 
the last tribute of respect to poor Barbour's 
memory. A December day, but clear, cloud- 
less, dreadfully bright, and windy. The mud 
is deep as one's boots; goes up over rubbers 
without any apparent doubts as to the propri- 
ety of such an innovation. Yet, the whole? 
neighborhood seems astir with people, picldng 
their way to one centre — the liotel^ where 
not as last Monday evening, for rejoicing, they 
come together ; but to mourn mth the suf- 
ferers of a great sorrow : a widow, made so 
by violence wholly unprovoked ; brothers, be- 
reaved in a manner never to Idc forgotten — 
never to be thought of in years to come but 
with the smartest twinges of pain. The room 
we enter is a long dining-hall. The walls are 
of limestone, rough and unplastered. Seats 
of plank stretch in rows, closely packed, 
through the whole length, with the exception 



^IN KANSAS. 147 

of a narrow space for the clergyman. The 
seats are all fiUecl. The atmosphere of the 
assembly is of the truest sympathy. Each 
soul seems personally aggrieved and afflicted. 
Silence is the only, and most emphatic, expres- 
sion given to this grief The first break upon 
that silence is the tread of many feet and a 
smothered, broken sob, that will not be wholly 
choked down. Working his way through the 
crowd, appears a tall man, with white hair, 
large blue eyes, and a very benevolent counte- 
nance. You see at once that he is a Metho- 
dist. He has cHnging to his arm a small, 
veiled figure, — everybody knows 'tis the 
widow ; '^ a widow indeed." 

There comes another smothered sob as she 
is borne along to the far end of the hall. 
The man of white hair stoops over her ten- 
derly and whispers words of peace to her. I 
do not hear them -, she does not. Now she 
sinks into a seat. A hymn is read, and the 
crowd sing the tune of " Martin Luther," so fa- 
miliar to everybody, and stretching back over 
the whole length of oldest life present. What 
a relief it is! how it gathers up and rolls 
away the pent-up emotions of the multitude ! 



148 SIX MONTHS. 

Now the white-head sinks down over bended 
ImeeS;, to the floor, and his voice utters its 
prayers and suppUcations, while the tears 
course down the cheeks of the speaker and 
his audience. The sobs of that broken heart 
grow fainter. Does she find a rehef through 
the channel of other hearts? I beheve so. 
Then follow short speeches from Col. Lane 
and Gen. Eobinson, and a sad sermon from the 
white-head. All the exercises are remarkably 
good of the kind. Even Col. Lane did well. 

The services are over, and the people form a 
procession. Men mth arms reversed take the 
lead; then the body and its friends; then 
the whole crowd, mounted in carts drawn by 
oxen, wagons led by mules, and carriages of 
every pattern, form into a solemn line stretch- 
ing far along the open country. Up over 
Mount Pleasant curves the road to the ground 
appropriated for a burial place, two miles 
away. What a sight it is ! One like it could 
hardly be got up anywhere else, or under any 
other circumstances. This grand old country, 
venerable mth its lofty trees, its smoothly 
terraced hills, its serene repose, — where the 
moccasin only has trod as at home, and crept 



IN KANSAS. 149 

away in by-places to take the sleep of death! 
The tread of the white man is fresh and new ; 
but to-day the grand old prairie witnesses the 
burial of its second martyr ! Now the soldiers 
make a wall on either side, with lifted hats, 
for the mourners to pass through. Gently 
the coffin is lowered to its last rest, while the 
words, " Dust to dust," " I am the Eesurrection 
and the Life," are broken by the wailing wind, 
and lost to the ears of the audience by the 
fast-coming sobs of that forlorn, childless, 
earth-stricken widow ! The soldiers now ap- 
proach; the audience and friends fall back, 
giving place to them ; while, standing about 
the grave, at the signal of their commander, 
" Uncle Jeff"," one division after another bury 
the contents of their rifles in the last resting- 
place of their much-loved and honored com- 
rade. 

Wednesday. — The people from different por- 
tions of the Territory have departed from 
Lawrence, and we fall back again into the 
usual routine of a new settlement. In the 
early part of the month almost everybody 
was busy, trying to make their places of 



150 SIX MONTHS 

abode more suitable for the coming -winter. 
When destruction threatened the town, of 
course all personal thrift and comfort were 
lost sight of in the general danger. Now 
winter seems to hurry in upon us mth unu- 
sual severity ; and so great has been the tax 
upon the strength of us all for the last three 
weeks of sleepless anxiety, that all effort, just 
now, seems quite impossible. 

I cannot rid myself of the impression, that 
more danger Hes ahead. I do not forget the 
Ions: distance stretchino; between us and our 
friends; the frozen rivers, cutting off the 
usual means of intercourse ; and the falling 
snow, making our way trackless in any direc- 
tion. North, south, or west, there can be seen 
no help for us in an emergency. Our eyes 
overleap all points but the East ; and, alas ! 
between us and our East, there looms up a 
fearful Ogre, in the shape of the State of Mis- 
souri! Perhaps a class of immigrants of so 
high an order in cultivation, natural abihty, or 
energetic foresight and calculation, never be- 
fore planted themselves as the nucleus of a 
new State, as are these exiles from home in 
Kansas. Ultraism, naturally or by education. 



IN KANSAS. 151 

is not the order of mind prevailing among 
them. Old and early habits of conservative 
obedience to the "powers that be" — the laws 
under which they grew up and found both 
Kberty and protection — still cHng to them ; 
and it would be strange if the experience of 
the past few weeks did not make these habits 
more clear and honored than ever before. 

The man who by his acts destroys our faith 
m him^ robs us of an inheritance wider than 
the circumference of any one man, be he ever 
so great, because he undermines the founda- 
tion of our trust in others. 

How we, at the North, have always beheved 
implicitly in the chivalry of the South, and 
the wide-hearted generosity of the West. It 
is not till we arrive in Kansas, away from 
everything dear and famihar, away from all 
the ordinary comforts of older countries, that 
the truth really dawns upon us. Mother, 
there is no indignity to be mentioned which 
has not been heaped upon us. By it I feel 
myself robbed of a large estate — my faith in 
human nature. I cannot imderstand at all 
the ground of our offence. If we are poor, 
should not that be a reason why our neigh- 



152 SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS. 

bors' sympathy and cordial aid should be 
poured in upon us? Why don't they call 
and see these poor, benighted "Yankees;" 
and out of their abundance, give us help? 
Surely this vast region furnishes room for all! 
Missouri is larger than New England, and 
sparsely populated. I am not wise enough to 
understand why, but it seems as though land 
had been a bone of contention ever since the 
earth was created. Just now it is all a " mud- 
dle " to me ; and as I do not know how to 
moralize, or you care to hear me, I will sub- 
scribe myself. 

Your most affectionate daughter, 

H. A. K. 



WINTER EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS. 

February, 1856. 

My Dear Mother, — Yon will feel anxious, 
to have a whole month pass by without 
even a word from us. It has, however, 
been the fault of no one. Soon after closing 
my last, sickness and the most freezing cold 
weather entered hand-in-hand into the cabin. 
Both were wholly unexpected guests, and 
quite unprepared for. The cold never took 
such a fearful grasp of this country before, 
within the memory of Indian or missionary. 
The cabins of new settlers, from necessity 
poor at best, are made with the understand- 
ing that winters here are not severe. Think 
of the thickness of a " shake " only, between 
one and the cold measuring twenty degrees 
below zero ! 

A sorry sort of experience the past month 
has been to our little household; cheered 
very often, it is true, by the great kindness 
and constant attention of people about us; 

(153) 



154 SIX MONTHS 

yet, dreary in its details. A bed of '^ prairie 
feathers " is not very comfortable at any time ; 
and warmth is not one of its inherent qual- 
ities, nnder any circumstances. Every twenty- 
four hours, almost, brought some accession to 
the snow-drifts, and filled the atmosphere of 
cabins with a most subtle, throat-cutting ele- 
ment, almost impossible to breathe. Large 
cooking stoves, well heated, made but Httle 
headway in a contest so unequal. The wood 
was not always dry ; and to keep it in a de- 
cent state for the fire, it was piled up in the 
cabin, out of the full force of the oft-recur- 
ring snow storms. Late in the autumn, 
L had gone up into the territory on im- 
portant business, and been obhged to camp 
out without the usual preparation travellers 
make when it is their intention to sleep mider 
the stars. He and his companion lost their 
way. They had but two matches left, and 
expended a good deal of miavailmg effort 
before they succeeded m finding anytliing dry 
enough to kindle a fire with. The wind took 
possession of the first match as soon as it igni- 
ted. You can better imagine than I describe 
the state of two wanderers, totally at a loss 



IN KANSAS. 155 

how to '^ define their position/' in the dark- 
ness of a, November night, many miles from 
any habitation, on a prairie unmarked by any 
hnes of travelled roads, and a storm lowering 
over their heads ! One match left ! With the 
greatest care, not nnmingled with propor- 
tional fear as to results, it was lighted. Some 
good angel must have spread its wings of safe 
protection between the tiny flame, and the 
winds which monopolize every point of com- 
pass, for the fire was lighted. Heaps of wood 
were piled up, the wagon drawn near enough 
to shelter the heads of the two young men ; 
the horses sheltered by the "timber," corn 
given them, and a portion roasted in the fire 
for the supper of our travellers. With their 
feet towards the fire and heads under the 
wagon, they went to sleep, and did not wake 
till the fire was out by the intrusion of rain 
and snow, and theh persons were crusted over 
entirely by the frozen mixture. Daylight 
was worth more than anything else, and that 
was now about them. With the hope and 
elasticity belonging not only to the young, 
but almost inherent «in the vvdld freedom of 
western life, the horses were harnessed and a 



156 SIX MONTHS 

point taken, to reach if possible some place 
of shelter and refreshment. At ten o'clock a 
cabin appeared under the shelter of a wild 
and most picturesque bluff; and our guests 
were most cordially welcomed by its only 
inhabitant, a German immigrant. 

L has often told me, since, that he 

never experienced so great a surprise. The 
ivelcomc he expected, because there are no 
more hospitable people than the far-off, wide- 
apart " squatters " on Uncle Sam's farm. This 
German, however, fed them with venison, 
rubbed down the almost perishing horses, and 
then gave his guests an intellectual treat of 
the rarest kind. His mind seemed full of the 
finest specimens of culture, and his enthusi- 
asm over Nature's wild beauty in this western 

world, seemed almost boundless. L and 

his companion felt quite ill-used and frozen, 
through the evening; but the compensation 
of the morning, and indeed the whole day 
and night, through which they remained as 
guests to the kmd German, was more than 
an equivalent for all they suffered. 

When the cold daysf)f Christmas pressed 
down upon us, we felt as though we were to 



IN KANSAS. 157 

go through another edition of L.'s experience 
on the prairie. Our spirits held out very 
remarkably. Things did not look any worse 
than they really were — vfliichj to be sure, 
were bad enough. Sickness pressed heavily 
upon me ; but the fever made me quite insen- 
sible to the danger from the cold air, until, like 
poor "Joe," I began to heave hard for my 
breath, lil^e one laboring with an oar. Now 
that it is past, there come to my mind distinct 
pictures, vivid, and most touching, of that 
period. A group of three, snuggled close 
round the stove, vainly endeavoring to get 
warm, leaving it in haste to get more wood, 
to place a hot brick about my person, or to 
break the ice for me to drink. For some time 
I refused to have any watcher, it seemed too 
cold for any one to stay out of bed. Alice 
was placed under cover very early in the 
evening. Water was all I craved, and it would 
freeze sohd before midnight. Edward tried 
the experiment of boiling some, filling a mug 
with it, and placing the mug in a tin pail, cov- 
ered tight. This answered very well awhile ; 
but at last the mug froze down in the pail, so 
that it could not be got out without being set 

14 



158 SIX MONTHS 

on the stove. At this time E. seemed quite 
tired out with care and anxiety. One night 
he went to bed early, leavmg a great fire. It 
was about nine when I took up my tumbler 
to drink — it was frozen solid. In a moment 
the door ojDened for Mr. W. ; my sight was 
very dim and he looked a long way off, and 
the bed seemed to have been moved back into 
another room. I tried to speak; but could 
not make a sound. I beckoned to him ; for I 
did not reahze that the fault was mme that 
he seemed so far away. He saw my move- 
ment, came to give me the tumbler, saw that 
it was full of ice, and went to the pail, which 
was in the same condition. He replenished 
the fire, took up the pail and vanished. The 
air was full of a driving snow-storm ; and it 
was a long way to the spring ; but very soon 
the pail and man returned into the cabin. I 
had not only a "cup of cold water," but a dish 
of nice cocoa, brought as soon as it could be 
made. L. came in, in a few moments, and 
remained the rest of the night. He says it 
was the only time in his life when he thought 
he was in danger of freezing ; and that, Avith 
the largest fire he could build, the water for 
me to drink froze upon the stove-hearth ! 



IN KANSAS. 159 

Towards night the next day, I was roused 
from a stupid sleep by the entrance, first, of 
a fair and dehcate-looking woman, then the 
Dr., L., Mr. W., and several others. The lady 
announced to me that I was to be moved im- 
mediately, and proceeded at once to tuck the 
clothes closely about the narrow bed, and to 
sj)read a woollen shawl over my head; the 
gentlemen then raised me up, bed and all, 
bore me out the door, and placed me in a cart 
as gently as a mother could have laid away a 
babe. The company mounted in about me, 
holding a buffalo-skin over the bed. The ride 
was not^it all painful to me, and I did not feel 
the cold in the least. 

The famous hotel, which has quite a history 
of its own, notwithstanding its youth, was soon 
reached. It stands up quite high from the 
ground ; had no steps yet made ; and to enter, 
an inclined plane of boards rested upon the 
sill and the ground. The stairs, too, in the 
hall, as 3^et existed only in the mind of the 
master-builder. The space they were to occu- 
py was covered with narrow strips of board ; 
and as one flight rose over the other, from the 
cellar up four stories, it was enough to make 



160 SIX MONTHS 

an}^ head dizzy to take themselves up^ without 
the weight of a bed and sick person. 

Now that I am well, I cannot but consider 
it a remarkable feat that all these uncertain 
stej^s were taken without injury to any one. 
My head was not uncovered till the door of 
L.'s office had shut me in, and the bed settled 
do^vn by the side of a wall, covered with law 
books, the odor from which awakened most 
pleasant remembrances of home. Those who 
have had the sensation of a heavy plank bound 
over the lungs, can understand how great the 
rehef was to breathe the warm air of this com- 
paratively warm and finished room. It was 
a long and narrow place, with one window 
looking to the south ; walls on two sides, of 
cemented lune-stone, very rough, with occa- 
sional chinks through which the sky was visi- 
ble. The other sides were thin partitions, 
dividing it on one side from the "council- 
chamber," and on the other from the powder- 
magazine ! Still farther along the hall, Mr. 
"\y. had secured a room for himself At night 
a mattress wa3 drawn by my bed-side, and 
there L. and E., alternately tending the fire 
and nursing me, passed the time till morning. 



IN KANSAS. 161 

On the other side, close to me, was drawn 
another lounge, where, in the unbroken sleep 
of childhood, little Ahce securely rested. 
About this room there has always seemed the 
atmosphere of the utmost peace and security -, 
and hereafter, in years to come, these young 
people will, I think, forget all that it was at 
the time so hard to bear, and remember it as 
one of the periods of safe-keeping, and active 
mental growth. 

Meanwhile the snow and cold seem to keep 
time with each other. The hum of voices in 
the council chamber is increased by numbers. 
Matters of importance are before its members. 
"We are startled often by the report of fire- 
arms. 

There is a stone building nearly opposite, in 
one part of which is a tailor's shop. Living 
somewhere in this settlement is a creature, 
half man, half brute, who sometimes allows 
the one nature to rule him, and sometimes the 
other — a noisy, uproarious bulty, when warm- 
ed up with whiskey, called '^ Buckskin." Some 
real or imaginary cause of offence has sprung 
up between him and this tailor, opposite. The 
brute-nature has rule over Buckskin to-night ; 

14* 



162 SIX MONTHS 

his grievance, whatever it may be, is athirst 
for vengeance. Loud and awfully profane 
tallving peals forth from his mouth at this 
puny strip of a tailor, who shuts and bolts his 
door for safety, putting out the light Vvdthin. 
Buckskin fires through the door and window, 
shot after shot. We are in great anxiety, ex- 
pecting to hear of the tailor's murder. Quite 
a mob have collected in the street. What a 
strange sight this would be in Boston! and 
how quickly the strong hand of a Boston 
policeman would lead away the aggressor, and 
disperse the gathering multitude ! Late into 
the night the sounds die out j even Buckskm 
must have sleep. 

Sheriff Jones has had quite a novel finale to 
an arrest. The wife of the arrested man 
should have been born on the other side of 
the Atlantic ; and would have made a fitting 
mate to some modern Robin Hood. In the 
first place, she hid the Sheriff's dragoon coat, 
which in itself was very valuable as well as a 
necessary appendage tliis cold weather. After 
her husband was placed in the carriage for 
removal, she drew a loaded pistol from her 
person, pointed it at Sheriff Jones, and declared 



IN KANSAS. 163 

she would fire if he did not release her hus- 
band. As there seemed no possible doubt of 
her sincerity, and as the gentleman could not 
avenge himself upon a woman, he released the 
man — expressing the opinion, that he should 
rather face an army of men than one furious 
woman. More recently, that same woman 
went into a yard of horses kept to let, and 
demanded one, over which she had some real 
or imaginary right, presenting at the same 
time her pistol at the hostler. The shock to 
his sensibihty was so great, that he suffered 
her to mount the horse and ride off without 
molestation. This reminds me of another 
" strong-minded woman." When at the peace 
party, the Doctor called my attention to a 
woman, sitting very straight in a chair, quite 
near an illuminated window, by the light of 
which she was reading a newspaper. Her 
eyes were very black ; her face not only deter- 
mined, but somewhat brazen. The Doctor 
amused himself, as well as me, by detaihng 
some of her freaks during our troubles. In 
one instance, when her cabin was visited by 
the enemies, she passed herself off as a JVIis- 
sourian, and, through the statement of her 



164 SIX MONTHS 

defenceless position^ gained from them two 
rifles ! On another occasion, when going home 
from Lawrence, the distance from which is 
about six miles, she rode her own horse and 
led that of her husband, who, being one of 
the soldiers, could not return with her. After 
riding about half way home, she saw a man 
hastening after her ; and, when w^ithin speak- 
ing distance, he demanded the extra horse. 
She replied, "Take it if you can," and put her 
pony into a fast trot. Stimulated both by the 
ride and her nearer approach to her home, 
she, when at a good distance, reined in her 
horse and laughed at him for not taking what 
he wished. The pursuer got very angry ; he 
w^as drunk before ; he drew his pistol but had 
not steadiness of nerve to hold it, and it slipped 
from him to the ground. Fearing, half drunk 
as he was, to dismount, he started on to secm^e 
the horse, uttering oath after oath. My lady's 
spirit was now up, she did not fear a drunl^en 
man on horseback, so she made a wide circuit, 
bringing herself back to where the pistol lay ; 
it was but the work of a moment for her to 
jump to the ground, secure the prize, spring 
upon the horse, and gallop home. 



IN KANSAS. 165 

The quiet of the hotel, hitherto broken only 
by the click of the workmen's hammers^ or 
the hurried step of its few inmates, has sud- 
denly changed. There are armed men quar- 
tered again in the rooms directly beneath us. 
Steps of many people press along the entries 
to the "council-chamber." Soberness settles 
over the faces which have borne so hghtly 
and bravely the vexatious inconveniences of 
a first winter in a new country. Dame Ru- 
mor has issued her bulletin, that our little 
town is to be burned, and women and chil- 
dren must be removed or share the massacre 
of men. 

The forts have miserable shanties erected 
in them for the soldiers stationed in each. 
The cold increases. Officers sleep upon the 
floor of the council-chamber. Over our heads, 
upon the flat roof of the hotel, we hear the 
steady, measured tread of a sentinel. The 
sound is crisp and cold, with the deep snow 
still increasing, driven furiously by the wind. 
Each soldier at the diflerent quarters takes his 
hour's tramping watch. There is over all a 
fearful sense of forsaken helplessness. It 
seems almost as though heaven and earth had 



166 SIX MOISTHS 

forsaken us. Our officers, however, are strong 
and brave men ; they stand like a wall of fire 
between us and danger. But how few of them 
in numbers ! Who among you whom we left 
at home can ever reckon up the wear and tear 
that these men are passing through ? The 
half-sleeping posture upon the floor or a rude 
bench ; the family, left at home ^vithout its 
rightfid protection ; and the constant, reliable 
impression that attack is inevitable, and that 
no sufficient force is ready to meet it. 

Almost every day brings some few fresh 
hands and true hearts into the town. Very 
often our door is opened by mistake, and men 
rush close to the fire, regardless of everything 
but to warm themselves. I amuse myself 
scrutinizing their various wrappings, — an odd 
mixture of Indian gay blankets, leggins, and 
moccasins, with the remnants of a former civ- 
ihzation in the shape of gloves, ca23S, and 
coats. Stupid people, we have none. The 
hard attrition of border life, and the granite 
roughness of every circumstance surrounding 
us, brings to the surface every available ele- 
ment of human capability. I can readily 
imagine how, unsanctified with a righteous 



IN KANSAS. 167 

cause, this surface-power may become cruel 
and vindictive. 

Now, to the tramp of the watchmen over- 
head is added the more distant tread of a 
wide-awake sentinel in the long hall, upon the 
first floor. Early in the morning the soldiers 
are astir. Their cook regales us by the pleas- 
ant flavor of his coffee and broiled beef, to say 
nothing of corn-mush and hot biscuit. Like 
all invalids, for want of other employment, I 
trace liis march through breakfast, the orders 
for more water, for towels to wipe the dishes 
with, intermingled with the clatter of cups 
and saucers, snatches of pleasant songs, up- 
roarious laughter, and jokes quite unintelligi- 
ble to us \vp above ; though we cannot resist 
the magnetic influence to join the laugh. 
Then there is a sudden rush at the material 
for dinner. No joke, this, in a freezing day 
— to cook for a company of soldiers, and the 
days so short. Sometimes the meat burns 
with the hurry, or the mush binds itself to the 
bottom of the kettle, or the water boils out 
from the potatoes. Every housekeeper knows 
how very unpleasant the odor ascending from 
such a cuHnary failure is. 



168 SIX MONTHS 

This settled routine is at length broken in 
upon^ at rnidnigJit, by the arrival of a courier 
from Fort Lea;Ven^yorth. The council are 
awakened to hear the news of another mur- 
der at Easton, where an election was held ; and 
a request for assistance in the shape of armed 
men. 

There is no more sleep in the hotel. Men 
are selected to start out immediately as far as 
the house of Sicoxie, a friendly Delaware 
Indian, and there remain for their orders from 
Leavenworth. Three men are to keep on, 
one of whom is L , to get accurate infor- 
mation about the murder. 

To-day, Captain Dicky, of Topeka, follows 
their march, with quite a company. The dis- 
tance is about thirty miles, I believe, through 
an unbroken road, a wild Indian country. 
Captain Brown lived but a few hours after 
his wounds were inflicted. He was taken pris- 
oner by men from Platte county, and confined 
in a room, to be hung the next morning ; but, 
so greedy were his captors for his blood, that, 
before he was really led out of the entrance 
to his prison, hatchets were raised above his 
head and bowie-knives thrust into his body. 



IN KANSAS. 169 

He fell most barbarously wounded. At his 
earnest request, he was placed m a wagon and 
taken to his home, where, on his arrival, he 
had time enough to bid farewell to his wife 
and children. 

Capt. Brown was born at the South ; emi- 
grated from Ohio to this Territory with his 
family, and located near Fort Leavenworth. 
In the autumn he came to Lawrence, and re- 
mained till our safety was no longer in jeop- 
ardy. In personal appearance he was quite a 
marked man, even in a crowd. He was unu- 
sually tall, with a rich, brown complexion, 
dark, abundant hair and beard, and eyes 
large, dark, and sad in expression. I do not 
think that any one who ever saw him will for- 
get his personal appearance, and no dweller 
in Kansas can ever forget the mark his cruel 
death has made upon the pages of its early 
history. 

Capt. Dicky arrived on Saturday evening. 
They came across the river at the foot of 
Massachusetts street, and rode up in front of 
this hotel, where they were received with loud 
cheers. Certain military manoeuvres, quite 
uninteUigible to my ignorant self, were per- 
is 



170 SIX MONTHS 

formed, interspersed with cheers, speeches, and 
other testimonials of rejoicing. It really was 
a grand display. The moonlight, glittering 
upon the snow; the fantastic, distorted 
shadows of curious cabins, piles of lumber, 
wood, and sleds of an entirely new pattern, 
stretching out on every side; the immense, 
rude, unfinished hotel, loommg up behind the 
smoidng, tired horses, mounted with men 
quite as originally dressed and as truly brave 
as were the men of old revolutionary times ! 
After gomg through the (I suppose usual) 
courtesies of military tactics on similar occa- 
sions, the company galloped, in single file, to 
temporary places of shelter for their tired 
horses; and soon after refreshed themselves 
with a supper, prepared for them at a restau- 
rant close by ; then accepted the hospitality 
of the hotel, wherein people are stowed away 
for a night's rest, very much as trunks and 
boxes are packed into a warehouse. 

The distinctive lines between those who 
live for themselves and those who live for 
others, are never so clearly defined as in a 
new, yet unpossessed country. I cannot give 
you a faithful transcript of our own daily 



IN KANSAS. 171 

experience, without telling something of the 
kind acts of strangers, who prepare for ns 
nice dehcacies in the shape of broiled birds, 
prairie chickens, and rabbits, accompanied 
with wheat-bread and ginger-cakes. Our box 
in the corner, bearing upon its top our small 
pattern of china and delf, rarely fails to sus- 
tain some nice little mess, carefully covered 
with a napkin or newspaper to secure it alilce 
from the gaze of visitors, the dust of a dirty 
room, and the cunning mice, who between 
four and five o'clock descend from the upper 
portion of the cemented walls, creeping out 
from the smallest little crevices, and travelHng 
at the most rapid rate, to the floor below. 
The little curious creatures have, as a race, 
most inquiring minds. There is no space of 
this room which they have not measured with 
their rapid feet; and no secret hiding-place 
they have not peered into. Harmless always, 
except in taking a bite of everything eatable, 
they make themselves perfectly at home. If 
the room is still, they amuse me by their frol- 
ics upon the floor ; and often they play " 'pos- 
sum," by roUing themselves up and dropping 
from the stone wall down to the floor below. ' 



172 SIX MONTHS 

Often, in the night, they make a short cut 
across the bed's head, springing thence to the 
books, scrambhng among the papers, for a 
night's entertainment. Woe be to any del- 
icacy, if they get at it ! We learn at home 
to say, " still as mice," but that saying grew 
out of ignorance of this miniature race of 
creatures. One should be deaf, to sleep well 
where they are. Such dissipated night mer- 
ry-makings as they have can hardly be recor- 
ded of any other race ; and their grace of 
motion is beautiful indeed. 

There are a large pro]Dortion of remarkably 
pretty women in Lawrence. Most of them 
married, yet quite young ; indeed, I consider 
myself, for the first time in my life, quite ven- 
erable when compared with those about me. 
Living in a ^^ shake" cabin, close under my 
window, is the fair little lady who helped me 
into my present ^^ quarters." She is from 
Ohio. Her place of abode, with its one win- 
dow towards me, its chimney of stove pipe, 
its tiny tallow candle of an evening, is always 
an object of interest; a cold Httle home it is. 
Her feet have frozen tliis cold winter while 
busy about her house-work. There was a 



IN KANSAS. 173 

gathering moisture in her eye when she told 
me ; but the quiver about the mouth passed 
into her usual smile of cheerful hopefulness, 
and absorbed the tears before they fell. With 
more than usual interest I have watched her 
one room, the past week. She has taken in a 
sick man, Major Robinson, of Tecumseh, who 
for some time has been rather sick, at the 
" Cincmnati House." That is no place for sick 
people. This man has fallen into good hands; 
but he is quite unconscious of those about 
him. Sweet forgetfulness spreads a mantle 
over his present, and memory takes him back 
to other days, and to his early home. He 
holds long talks with his mother. Almost his 
last request is, "Mother, take off my shoes; my 
feet are tired and swollen, I cannot travel any 
farther to-night." And so, in a state of pleas- 
ant surroundings, a happy unconsciousness of 
his present condition, he passes into the other 
life, where every want may be met, without 
opposition. I know when his life ceases ; for 
the lady brings out the bed-clothes and 
stretches them upon the line. My friend 
from Paschal Fish's, formerly of Eoxbury, 
with another beautiful woman from Worces- 

15* 



174 SIX MONTHS 

ter, • step out with saddened faces^ and walk 
quickly away. Poor fellow ! he had no rela- 
tive near him at the close of his life, but 
there are good, kind people everjrvvhere ; and 
under their blessed ministry he passed away. 
The body, once placed in its coffin, is brought 
to this depot of all things, whether hving or 
dead. This shelter is the last resort ; the 
place, too, for all assembHes, whether of busi- 
ness, pleasure, meetings for prayers, or, as in 
this instance, services for the dead. Many 
days passed before the honors due to this 
brave young officer were attended to. The 
accmnulating snow and freezing cold were a 
very tolerable excuse, yet not enough to sat- 
isfy those who had consciences. At last peo- 
ple assembled in respectable numbers; com- 
pany A. trod the white, almost unbroken 
snow, as escort, far out of town to the appro- 
priate burial-ground. 

E. goes up the river in company with sev- 
eral men every day, to haul down wood upon 
the ice. They wrap up as warm as though 
we had suddenly exchanged climates with 
Labrador. People are very busy cutting ice 
from the river; and, although our ears are 



m KANSAS. 175 

not enlivened with the merry jingle of bells, 
we are very much amused at the numberless 
new inventions in the shape of sleds and 
sleighs that are each day coming into town. 
The business portion of Lawrence has always 
more or less of the Indian tribes within its 
capacious street. Delawares and Shawnees 
mingle among our people very pleasantly, and 
are not much to be distinguished from them 
in dress this winter, — for our men resort to 
buffalo or blanket, as the most comfortable 
promenade dress. Other tribes of Indians, 
living farther west and less civilized, leading 
rather wandering lives, pitch their tents in the 
^^ timber bottom-lands" not far distant, and 
come hither for their food. I have amused 
myself not a little, sitting by this window, so 
high above the ground and overlooking every 
building in sight, watching the movements of 
these Indians. This afternoon is as cold as 
possible, the snow dry and frozen stiff; some 
wold-looking specimens have come up the 
street, fastening their ponies to a pile of wood 
near a grocery store. One of the squaws has 
set down a tall red bag close beside the walls 
of a cabm ; presently she brings two bags of 



176 SIX MONTHS 

flour round near her pony. She proceeds to 
take off the saddle, produces a leather strap 
from her pocket, ties a bag of flour to each 
end of the strap, and balances them by means 
of the strap thrown over pony's back. Now 
the saddle is replaced and girted tightly on. 
Pony is very patient, being evidenly well ac- 
quainted with his mistress' movements. There 
are some small packages, too, which she fits 
on some safe way, at least I hope so, for my 
attention is suddenly arrested by the shrill 
cry of a baby, and my eyes astonished by the 
appearance of a pair of little hands and arms 
thrust out through the red flannel bag. The 
mother expedites her packing business, springs 
quickly up over the flour on to the saddle, 
while a tall Indian suddenly turns the corner, 
lifts red flannel and its wondrous contents into 
her lap, over which she spreads a blanket, 
smothering any further attempts at crying 
which the ill-used infant might have had in 
view. Another woman, mounted in the same 
way, appears in the street. Both ponies so 
heavily laden pass slowly down to the river 
and cross to the Delaware country, which 
stretches along the opposite bank of the Kan- 
sas river, and is densely wooded. 



IN KANSAS. 177 

It is not till the middle of Febriirary that 
the winter relents — the eaves of om^ humble 
dwelling begin to drip ; and travelling up and 
down the river with loaded teams is set aside 
as unsafe. The winter has indeed been a long 
and trying one. Provisions have become 
scarce, and the difficulty of providing for so 
many men, a question of the utmost interest 
to wise men. Everybody has denied them- 
selves luxuries most cheerfully. But the goal 
of a fruitful summer, the nearer relief even 
of access to our friends, through the opening 
navigation of the western rivers, all seem a 
long way oQ. The unbridged streams between 
this place and the nearest market-town in 
Missouri, together with the now softening 
drifts of snow, make all market communication 
quite impossible. All through the winter our 
mails have been most unfaithfully attended 
to ; to speak fairly, one half of our letters 
and papers never get through the two bor- 
ders of our most truly interesting neighbor, 
Missouri. Numerous money-drafts, forwarded 
from the East to help us in our utmost need, 
have been detained. I should certainly be 
obliged, in face of all I have seen and learned 



178 SLX MONTHS 

this winter to accept the awful doctrine of 
total depravity, if it were not for my fimi con- 
\'iction that there is a great misunderstandmg 
somewhere. Certainly there must be a great 
proportion of good and kind people in the 
State of Missouri ; this, however, is simply a 
matter of faitli^ not of hifjlit. To us, however 
good they may be, they turn a deaf ear and 
keep a cold silence. 

Feb. 22d. — This twenty-second of February 
witnesses a social gathering in the hall of this 
hotel, or rather in the dining-room. "Com- 
pany A " give the party, and preside over it 
with a great deal of hospitahty. Tables are 
spread in the upper entry, which is very spa- 
cious. I am quite sm*prised at the clean and 
nice appearance of the tables, and the variety 
spread upon them for our refreshment. In the 
course of the evening, " Company A " enter- 
tain us with an original song got up by 
them, in the ballad style, giving quite a his- 
tory of this settlement. This company is a 
matter of general interest to us ah. Its mem- 
bers are young men, and very brave. One 
of its members, a native of Ohio, has in sev- 



IN KANSAS. 179 

eral instances shown remarkable presence of 
mind. Very early in the commencement of 
tliis settlement a tented cabin took fire, there 
was no person in it, but there were some 
trunks of clothes belonging to absent members 
of the settlement, and also, a heg of poivder. 
Persons who saw the fire knew the cabin could 
not be saved. . With a sudden cry at the re- 
membrance of the powder, young B. sprang 
down the slope, entered the burning curtain, 
and took the cask, already smutty and slightly 
charred, in his arms, and running out still far- 
ther down the ravine, threw it from him, and 
then returned and hauled out the trunks in 
safety. Another young man, from New Eng- 
land, succeeded in getting a team, loaded with 
cannon, up from Kansas City, when camps on 
the road were filled with armed men. 

Feb. 2Uk — The ice in our river dissolves 
its winter-union to-day — this twenty-fourth day 
of February — a bright, cheerful Sabbath. The 
sky appears in its own pecuhar clearness, bring- 
ing distant objects distinctly before the eyes. 
I go from one window of the hotel to another, 
uttering exclamations at the prospect. I see 



180 SIX MONTHS 

the river curving quite round, up towards its 
source, walled with tall, tastefully arranged 
trees, and, floating sluggislily upon its surface, 
cakes of ice thick enough to have done justice 
to a more northern latitude. Groups of people 
stand along the shore, watching with apparent 
interest the indications of a clear and navigable 
river. While, from many little homes, church- 
going people pick their way through the soft- 
ened snow, pools of dirty water, and mud of 
imcertain depth, tow^ards the rude place of 
worship. Off in the distance, towards the 
south-west. Blue Mound lifts its fair proportions 
against the sky, making a line with the Waka- 
rusa river, marking its course by the fringe of 
trees along its nearest banks ; and its farther 
shore, by the rising, terraced slopes lifting 
themselves far in the distance to the line of 
the horizon, sprinkled here and there with 
patches of clean snow, upon a ground of dried 
grass and the black mould of this truly fertile 
country. Without any great stretch of the 
imagination, one can fancy many distant towns 
and villages nestled in those pleasant slopes. 
One can never look over this beautiful country 
without a feeling of astonishment that it was 
never taken up for settlement before. 



IN KANSAS. 181 

The month of February closes full of hope 
and cheerfulness to us all. The winter is 
indeed gone, and our places of abode are still 
standing unmolested. The hour of my im- 
prisonment, too, is nearly out. We must go 
back to cabin houSe-keeping soon; and till 
then, believe me as ever, your affectionate 
daughter, H. A, R. 

16 



KANSAS SUFFERERS. — TROUBLE THREATENED. 



March, 185G. 

My bear Mother, — Your most kind and ac- 
ceptable letter reached me in the same mail 
with Sarah's, and gave me so great a start, lest 
something unpleasant had occurred, that I 
hardly dared break the seals. Smce receiving 
them I have written to Ellen, so that you will, 
if it reaches you, know how much better I am. 
We moved back to the cabin last Monday. It 
was hardly warm enough weather to make 
the change, but the men were plastermg the 
hotel, and I felt as though they would be glad 
to have us leave. Besides, I recollected the 
theory you always advanced, that plastering, 
when fresh, was a dangerous near-neighbor. 
The two first nights after I came into the 
cabin I coughed almost incessantly. The fire 
went out, and the rough winds crept in every- 
where. But it seemed pleasant to get back 
once more and brighten up the cabin with a 

(182) 



SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS. 183 

warm iire^ and a general washing of dishes, 
and dusting of furniture. 

We have made another improvement, too, 
by covering two-thirds of the floor with car- 
peting. On that portion we have the bed, 
bureau, washstand, grandpa's chair and the 
httle table. The carpet reaches close to one 
side of the cooking-stove ; and in front of the 
stove I have a thick mat, upon which my feet 
now rest as I write. The children have just 
gone down to the bank of the river, to see a 
skiff launched. 

Kansas river is now a deep and rather good- 
looking stream, but lacks motion and a clear 
bottom. The ice is out as far as St. Louis, but 
no boats have come up yet; and travelhng 
any other way is too hard for people. So far, 
I have seen no improvement upon our New 
England cHmate. One can but consider them- 
selves most seriously taken in, by all the grand 
talk about Kansas winters. The Delawares, 
however, say this is the coldest winter for very 
many years. Indeed, they warned us last fall, 
by various signs, to prepare for a cold winter. 
But how could we get ready to be comfortable, 
while watching the signs so much more mo- 



184 SIX MONTHS 

mentous — of war! And liow could people 
make tight houses, without lumber? Saw- 
mills and grist-mills should have preceded 
printing-presses in the proportion of a dozen 
to one. Then, the little money among us 
would have gone much farther. Many a field 
of corn was lost because the owner Avas on 
guard in Lawrence, when he should have been 
gathering his crops ; and many a bag of meal 
was emptied, and many a quarter of beef was 
roasted, gladly and generously, to feed the 
soldiers. These things, in a country so new, 
have of course left their effects upon the whole 
winter. There has been a great scarcity of 
money, and of many things which money alone 
could buy. It is not possible for those who sit 
in whole houses and by warm fires, to under- 
stand this winter, out in Kansas. Those who 
have been on the spot and passed through its 
own peculiar history, must always consider it 
as a rich legacy in the line of experience. 

I really msh I had more births and mar- 
riages to report to you, with fewer deaths. 
The former, I am sorry to say, are quite un- 
usual in the present epoch of Kansas history. 
In this respect our history is quite in character 



IN KANSAS. 185 

with the history of the early settlement of 
other States and Territories^ the graveyard 
is one of the first apportionmentSj and the 
soonest to be thicldy inhabited. Quite late in 
the autumn, one of our merchants returned 
east to bring his wife out here. She died of 
cholera on the Missouri river, and was buried 
where many other immigrants have found a 
last resting-place, upon its wild, uninhabited 
banks. The forlorn husband, Mr. Wilder, con- 
tinued his journey, and reached this place in 
safety. He inherited consumptive tendencies, 
and this sad misfortune aggravated and in- 
creased them. He died this week. He had 
made every preparation to return to his for- 
mer home in Vermont, and waited only for 
better weather and better travelHng. They 
both came too late. 

My first escape from the winter prison was 
at the invitation of Typhoid, to pass the day 
with her. It is of necessity a crowded, depot- 
lil^e house; people always coming to warm 
themselves and departing, or getting a night's 
lodging and then going on their way bright 
and early in the morning. 

On this gala-daj^ for me^ there was still 



186 SIX MONTHS 

some snow and frost about the earth, and a 
curious — between ''hay and grass'' — aspect of 
people, cattle, and equipages. Carts, with 
oxen or horses attached, stood side by side 
with sleds of most extcmpoixmeoiis build ; while 
men with blankets or coats, or without either, 
carefully picked their busy way to and from 
the town. At noon, strangers and boarders 
accept the call of the house-bell, and flock in 
for dinner. While in the midst of the gath- 
ering aspirants for dinner, a yoke of red and 
white' oxen drag a most rare pattern of a sled 
close before the door-steps. The man guiding 
the oxen is very young; and he seems re- 
markably careful of his load. How could he 
be otherwise? for she is a beautiful young 
girl, dressed in refined taste, notwithstanding 
the rude sled and the clumsy bed-comforter 
mth which she is so carefully wrapped. She 
takes a seat by the sitting-room fire ; is very 
cold, and prefers the warmth to dinner. On 
our return from the dining-room, she is ab- 
sorbed in the perusal of letters just brought 
her by her husband from the post-office. She 
is so pretty, and so young-looking, one cannot 
refrain from gazing at her, and wondering 



IN KANSAS. 187 

how she came out here. Without undue curi- 
osity^ the impalpable atmosphere about per- 
sons gives you some kind of a clue to their 
condition. 

This lady finished her letters, read them 
over a second time, then wrapped them up 
carefully and placed them in her basket. She 
was too young and unsuspicious not to trust 
those about her. She seemed to crave sym- 
pathy; and began the story one most wished 
to hear. She lived on a claim out ten miles, 
on the road up the river, a very lonesome 
place. If they only could Hve in the town. 
She always had lived m a town before. But 
now she had spoken to but two women out of 
the house since September ; and there was no 
travelling past, wherewith to amuse herself 
To be sure, her husband's mother lived with 
them, and was very Idnd ; what would they 
do without her? And the house was more 
comfortable than any she passed in her ride ; 
it v/as built of logs, cemented inside, and had 
three rooms and quite a cellar ; but she had 
frozen her feet, how she could not tell, for 
there was a carpet on the floor, and she had 
not been out ; bat then the winter had been 



188 SIX MONTHS. 

SO cold I it was now six weeks since her feet 
were first frozen, and slie could not yet walk 
upon them. She came out here in company 
with Dr. P. and she thought the day was so 
fine she would come and consult him about 
her sore ankles. 

A cheering little spirit she seemed to be ; 
telling many pleasant bits of her experience 
in house-keeping. As good luck would have 
it, Dr. P. came mto the room where we were. 
He seemed very glad to see her ; questioned 
her about her feet, which had neither stock- 
ings nor shoes upon them, but were wraj)ped 
carefully and securely in an abimdance of 
flannel. He seemed quite anxious at some of 
her rephes, and said she must go home with 
him and pass the night, the better to secure a 
fair chance to examine the poor feet. The 
team was again brought to the door; the little 
lady lifted carefully into the seat, softened 
with a comforter ; and, the last ghmpse I ever 
expect to have of her, she was being faith- 
fully escorted by her husband on one side, ox- 
whip in hand, and Dr. P. on the other, rein- 
ing in his prancing, splendid, black horse, and 
pointing over the country to the place ^\'here 



IN KANSAS. 189 

his cabin stands. Throngh him I have since 
learned that she was from Cincinnati; the onlij 
daughter of a wealthy family, married with- 
out their knowledge or consent, while a school 
girl. Dear little " child-wife/' who can ever 
avert the doom, sealed by your own thoughtr 
less hand ! There are men for whom, under 
some rare circumstances, so great a sacrifice 
might compensate, but this is not one of 
them. I see nothino; before her but a life of 
protracted anxiety and suffering. 

Disagreeable news begins to Ho at up the 
river. A few persons from the East have ar- 
rived in town, and bring us word that a quan- 
tity of Sharpe's rifles ^vAfotir giins^ coming up 
the river, packed in carpenter-chests, and in 
charge of Boston men, were forcibly seized at 
Lexington and kept. The joke of it is, some 
httle machinery belonging to each rifle was 
packed separately, was undiscovered by the 
pirates, and reached here in safety ; so that if 
they fire the rifles, they Avill discharge at both 
ends! How many times, think you, will they 
fire them? One of the persons who had them 
in charge has gone to see Gov. Shannon, and 
demand an order for them. The Governor is 



190 SIX MONTHS 

now at Lecompton, a few miles farther up the 
river. What will that " gutta percha " man do 
in such a dilemma ? If he refuses, then he 
acknowledges himself in favor of the robbers. 
K he grants the order, the robbers become 
his enemies. Poor " Gutta," I am always cu- 
rious, and somewhat pitiful, too, when you 
have to decide a question. 

Tell Ellen's " Uncle Ben " that I was very 
glad to receive the letter in which he bore a 
part. I hoped to answer it ; but I have but 
httle time to Avrite, and very few conveniences 
for doing so — for a long while no table, nor 
chair, nor ink fit to mark paper with. Then, 
at first, I was very homesick. It seemed 
ch?vmc, like a tooth-ache or a side-ache to 
which one has long been accustomed in a 
milder form ; for I don't think I ever made 
even a temporary change of residence without 
suffering somewhat from it. In this instance 
I could do nothing to relieve it, and never 
told it to others ; that is not my way. The 
heat through September was intense; the 
winds, even, seemed to come from a hot fur- 
nace. The sky was remarkable for its clear 
brightness. I felt almost as though I belonged 



IN KANSAS. 191 

to the owl family, it seemed so staring bright 
to me. Then, when the smi went down so 
grandly, so gracefully, behind the most ex- 
quisitely terraced hills in the far, far distance, 
and I would have refreshed myself by a cosey 
sit-down outside the cabin, to watch the stars 
and muse alone, there could nothing be found 
over this dreadfully cleared-up wilderness 
whereof a seat might be made ! not a dear 
old pasture-knoll, or rock with its mossy 
cushion, or a wall holding so many nice flat 
stones, where one always is tempted to sit, 
alone, or ^nth a friend, far into the night, or 
the stump of a tree, could this boasting, much- 
talked-of new world produce for my comfort, 
and remind me of home. The next great 
cause of discomfort to us was the lack of 
water. Accustomed to use it as freely as a 
duck — or, more to the point, perhaps, a goose 
— the doled-out pitcher-full at a hotel, with 
the thermometer at eighty or ninety, seemed 
wholly unendurable, though chargeable to the 
fault only of a certain condition of things, 
which time and more advanced '' city improve- 
ments " could remedy. 

For the cabin, water must be brought 



192 SIX MONTHS 

nearly a quarter of a mile, unless taken from 
the river sleeping but a few rods off, and set- 
tled down to its narrowest bed by the dry 
hot summer, and cushioned round with shift- 
ing, strange-looking sand-bars, which partakes 
too much of the properties of the broader 
Missouri, into which it empties, for any East^ 
ern house-keeper to risk her white cotton in 
it, or to use it willingly about her person. 

I wonder if all tliis sounds hke fault-find- 
ing? I mean it simply as a statement of 
facts, which I beHeve I started with to excuse 
myself for not writing to all my friends. How 
often they pass through my thoughts! or 
rather when they are absent from my thoughts 
it would be difficult to find out. Like the fig- 
ures in a panorama, they come at my call, 
each making way for another, as in j)ictures 
turned by other machinery than the fancies 
of a busy brain. My promises to write come 
with them, like shadows on the wall; and 
then follows a discussion upon the weighti- 
ness of this or that reason for the neglect. 

If I really had a conscience, I dare say these 
communings would be set down to its right- 
eous upbraidings. But, mother, my present 



IN KANSAS. 193 

opinion is that I have no such attendant. Cer- 
tainly^ whatever labors I perform are a pleas- 
ure^ usually ; if not, they lie so close before 
me that intuition, I think, prompts to their 
accomplishment. Or, it may be, they inter- 
vene between me and something which I de- 
sire in my more interior nature to come at. 
Intuition helps : this puts spurs to my activity. 
What I do for my friends is a whole-hearted 
pleasure. Conscience does not help or hinder 
me, even to the taking off any amount oi me^ 
for their benefit. My friends ! are they not 
the circumference of my heaven? Then 
surely it is no didy-call which makes me true, 
loving, and faithful to them. The world in 
general is an object of such intense sympathy 
and pity for all, that in its wrong-headedness 
it suffers, — as well as for all it loses, by rest- 
ing on so low a moral and intellectual plane, 
— that naturally, not dutifully, I run all 
round, lifting a vf eary head here, or bathing an 
unsightly limb or visage there, till, weary with 
the energy I expend, I put myself upon the 
shelf for rest, saying very privately, whisper- 
ing it close in the ears of this me^ " What is 
thdr torture to yours ? Has not your life been 

17 



194 SIX MONTHS 

a long humiliation ? a solitude, broken only 
upon its surface? a lone, helpless, womanly 
desolation, kept from dying out only by the 
often Idndly grasp of the hand, the friendly 
recognition of the eye, or the more demon- 
strative letter, costing time, thought, and re- 
membrance ? 

This childish, credulous me, thus flattered 
into a continued keeping upon the shelf, com- 
placently makes out a case of justifiable repose 
for its future, keeping still a negative friendU- 
ness to the poor, pitiable portion of the world; 
but no more actual service. Where, I won- 
der, is my conscience now ? If asleep, it is 
time a better sentinel was placed on guard 
over my soul ! 

Upon the whole, mother, my pen has struck 
out on the wrong road altogether. "Uncle 
Ben " did not wish a word on tliis highway : 
make it over to his brother ; it will furnish 
him a theme for a sermon of rebuke to all 
conscienceless people. 

This " Uncle Ben " of Ellen's, once before, 
wrote for my advice about the advantages to 
be gained by his going West ; and I urged it 
with very many, to me then, strong reasons 



IN KANSAS. 195 

in favor of it. Our wise '^ sage of America " 
says: ^^Let a man speak what he thinks 
to-day, and to-morrow say what he be- 
lieves, even if he contradicts the words of 
yesterday." Acting upon this permission, as 
well as the wider experience of to-day, I 
should take back whatever inducement at a 
former period, and m quite a state of igno- 
rance, I might have then presented to him. 
At his age, (he will excuse me,) changes can- 
not be made in all one's habits of action and 
position, without pain ; not to speak of loss, 
never to be regained — of ties, made strong 
with years, and strengthened by joy and sor- 
row. Few cultivated minds like his can safely 
go so far from everything they have known 
and joined sympathy with. 

Did I ever tell you about a colony of em- 
igrants, who went south from this place some 
seventy miles, or more or less ? (I am never 
good with numbers.) Report says it was a 
most promising colony, and that they located 
in a most fertile, sunny region, where the 
rough winds do not have full play, as they do 
here. The summer was one of dehghtful 
weather — too fascinating for work, and too 



196 SIX MONTHS 

full of promise for sufficient preparation to 
be made against the coming winter-time. 
Autumn settled do^Yn with damp nights and 
heavy dews. The fever and ague spread among 
them all. The clergyman and his family were 
all down with it. 

One day a brother clergyman^ from New 
England — who had taken up the time of his 
summer vacation in coming to see his friend^ 
and gratify his desire to see the country — 
found his way to the colony, and to the 
humble cabin of his friend. Rather a sad 
meeting it was ; for there was no one able to 
provide for his comfort or their own. He cut 
wood for the fire — made his o^Yn coffee — and 
provided for his horse. While takmg his own 
refreshment, there came in a poor, old, sick- 
looking man, who could hardly carry himself 
about, to borrow a shovel for the purpose of 
digging a grave for another man, who, he 
said, had just died; and on further inquiry, 
replied, that he was the only person left at 
all able to perform the service. The visitor 
"lifted up his voice and wept," repeating to 
himself, " I never could have believed in such 
a state of things without coming here to see 



IN KANSAS. 197 

it ! " As soon as the clergyman and his family 
were well enough to be moved, they were 
brought to Lawrence. 

The first time I saw them, a young lad, the 
only son of his mother, was suffering from a 
fit of the ague, wrapped up in blankets upon 
a lounge. The mother, a fair, gentle EngUsh 
woman, sat in an adjoining room, sewing 
together the breadths of a comforter. The 
only cabin they could obtain was a poor 
affair, leaking badly, and partly covered with 
cotton cloth. This little fellow worked with 
right good will to keep Avood cut for the fire, 
as soon as he was able ; but the weather came 
on so cold that fire made but little impression. 
At last, when the winter was far spent, a very 
comfortable house was made ready for them. 
The lady, however, had fastened upon her a 
serious cough, before the relief of warm air 
was granted to her. Hopes were entertained 
that spring would restore all she had lost 
through the winter. When, very suddenly, 
last week, the young lad was siezed with 
fever and total delirium. He survived but a 
few days. And in less than a week, his sor- 
row-stricken mother passed away also. All 



198 SIX MONTHS 

who now remain, are the father, a daughter 
about seventeen, and a pretty little pet, in 
the shape of a little girl about five years old. 
They came to stay with Typhoid, until pre- 
parations could be made for them to return 
east. The little girl still has turns of ague, 
but a change of climate will probably restore 
her. 

This young boy's history reminds me of 
another lad, still younger, who has been an 
object of a great deal of interest to many 
persons among us. I cannot recall liis name — 
for we all call him " Bub." When L. was tra- 
velling over the territory, at some place where 
he stopped he heard a conversation about 
this little boy, eleven years of age, who came 
out with his father to look about for a place 
of settlement. The father grew sick, and in 
order to provide for the boy, commenced a 
return journey. One night they put up, for 
the night only ; but it proved the last of his 
life. The poor little orphan was completely 
crushed imder the weight of a grief and 
desolation so dreadful. L. was so interested 
in the case, especially as they were Massachu- 
setts people, that he made arrangements for 



IN KANSAS. 199 

the boy to be brought to Lawrence. As soon 
as he arrived here, I went in often to see him. 
He always met me with a smile, but made no 
conversation about the past. I'm sure I could 
not ask him any questions directly personal — 
sorrov/ seems so sacred. He is remarkably 
interesting in person; has more than the usual 
share of beauty ; and, through his periods of 
almost daily fever or ague, he never frets nor 
exacts much from others. Indeed, the strange, 
bewildering lonehness of his position seems to 
have paralyzed every childish emotion. Sitr 
ting in a hard, ugly chair, close to the stove, 
when the chill is upon him, it is pleasant to 
witness how the roughest, sternest nature is 
softened when brought close to the same stove 
for warmth. '^ Well, Bub, are you better to- 
day?" comes in tones so truly sympathetic 
that the child-heart leaps up to answer. 

NoAV there arrives from the East (that much- 
loved "land of Egypt" to every wandering 
Israelite in this far-ofi^ strange land) a man 
whom we all love and honor — to whom we 
all look, as to a sheet-anchor in a storm. 
General Pomeroy gives both warmth and 
light to the parlor of the miniature " Cincin- 



200 SIX MONTHS 

nati House." He loves children — tlwj know 
by intuition who does ; and this desolate little 
boy give^ his unresisting hand mto the great 
brown palm of the General, while, as the eve- 
ning settles down into approaching night, and 
people pass out from the room usually so 
crowded, the kind-hearted man touches with 
so much tenderness the " aching cord " of liis 
little companion, that the fountain of tears 
breaks open like a long pentrup flood. The 
little hand is covered with another brown 
palm — smoothed gently, and time given for 
all the rehef which sobs and tears can bestow. 
Now follows, naturally, the story of his de- 
parture from home with his father — all the 
details of their long journey — the coming 
sickness — the final death of the father. Poor 
little fellow ! It would have melted the stout- 
est heart to hear his unaffected, simple state- 
ment of the, to him, awful tragedy. Questions 
came often from the General, as well as words 
of comfort, in a voice gentle as that of a loving 
mother. 

This man, with a heart in wliich the milk 
of human kindness had not been permitted 
to become acid, came down to the simple 



IN KANSAS. 201 

-plane of the child's mind ; took this great di- 
lemma of his young life in hand^ and solved 
it for him. He repeated his mother's name 
over and over again to him, until the poor little 
fellow became accustomed to the sound, and 
could repeat it himself without shrinking, and 
Hope lifted itself from the torpor of many a 
long day. Gen. Pomeroy promised to see him 
safe home to his mother ; but not now. He 
must get well first ; and for this purpose he 
would get him boarded at Dr. Barber's, long 
known as a missionary among the Indians, and 
well skilled in the treatment of diseases of 
the country. His mother should be written 
to immediately ; and, when the warm spring 
weather came, he should be conducted to her. 
All the while I am gathering to myself 
beautiful expositions of character like what I 
have just related. They are 7iches to me, in 
this far-off land, where there has been so 
much to disturb and irritate everybody. I 
turn from them with a sort of unutterable 
soul-sickness, to watch the dark clouds heav- 
ing up over our hopeful sky, from our heart- 
less, poor-apology of a neighbor, Missouri. 
You will remember this, as the month when 



202 SIX MONTHS 

our oivn legislative body is to meet. We 
womenkincl look with fear and trembling 
upon the departure of so many of our strong 
men to Topeka. If it was located between 
us and Missouri, I think we might enjoy the 
gathering together of this political machinery 
for the very laudable purpose of making laws 
for our protection. But Topeka is twenty- 
five miles farther up the river. I remember 
very well that in the winter, when Gen. L. 
hesitated about accepting an invitation to pass 
a portion of the cold winter with a friend in 
Missouri, "Sheriff Jones/' judging, rightly 
enough, that it was as a soldier he hesitated, 
said, very decidedly : " I give you my word, as 
a man of honor, this people will be free from 
all invasion for the next six weeks." 

Whatever faults the sheriff has, and how- 
ever strong his prejudices may be against us 
unfortunate New Englanders, he pledged him- 
self in a way not to be doubted ; and he must 
have had good reason for limiting the time. 
That time is now up, and our people are assum- 
ing to take care of themselves. " Uncle Sam " 
feeds Missouri with sugar plums ; but our cry, 
to be allowed to earn bread for ourselves, is not 



IN KANSAS. 20 



o 



heard. What then can we do ? Justice has 
fled enthely out of the country. The posi- 
tion of our people has reached the highest 
point of heroic desolation. Now we must " put 
our trust in God, and keep our looioder drjjT 

I hope you will read Gov. Eobinson's mes- 
sage. It does not sound much like the voice 
of a reckless renegade. I feel very proud of 
it. Fifty years from now it will read quite as 
well, "I reckon/' as anything Frank Pierce has 
had to offer on this subject. You will see, 
too, that " his excellency, Gutta Percha " is on 
his way back here ; and, to arrest our wise 
men and take them all to pay a visit to Wash- 
ington ! I only hope he will have courage 
to do it. Many of them are worthy to fill 
high places at the seat of government, and 
only need to be seen that this may be ac- 
knowledged. Most solemnly, I declare to you, 
that I do not see any reason at all why this 
people have been so beset by an adjoining 
State. Everybody here seems disposed to 
mind their own business and let other folks 
alone. The quarrel in this instance is all on 
one side. We do not need couriers to bring 
us intelligence of Missouri's purposes concern- 



204 SIX MONTHS 

ing us. We feel it in tlie opposing sphere 
of the air around us. We hear it in the 
broken bits of talk, the awful oaths poured 
out upon the heads of all " Yankees " — which 
includes everybody east of the Mississippi and 
north of the Ohio. I smile at this wholesale 
contempt for us and the land of our birth; 
I smile, too, at tlie former narrowness of my 
views, when Boston seemed to me quite a 
place ; its sons and daughters noble, aye, al- 
most royal, by the right of persevering, suc- 
cessful effort. And, notwithstandmg the new 
face with which my dear old home is here 
presented to me, I hug my prejudices the 
closer. I am not only proud, but thankful, 
very thankful, that New England is the land 
of my birth. Her laws and institutions are 
dearer to us than ever before ; and Kansas, 
without a similar elevating basis of social and 
moral restraint, would not be worth travelling 
two thousand miles to secure. 

Young as she is, Kansas is not without her 
" Moses and Aaron," to create and expound a 
code of laws suitable to meet her necessities, 
and worthy the epoch in which she appears 
before the public. Leave her in freedom to 



IN KANSAS. 205 

gather about her what she feels the need of, and 
even you will live to hear of her harmonious 
completeness and social comfort. 

But if Kansas is to be the battle-field 
w^hereon all the exciting questions agitating 
the whole country are to be fought, in the name 
of all humanity, send " Wise men from the 
East " to do the work. We who came here to 
make homes ^ have already encountered quite a 
sufficiency of hardship to make our homes 
dear to us when they are made secure ; quite 
enough of unkindness on the part of our neigh- 
bors, to settle, for a period at least, the ques- 
tion of ^^ hospitality and chivalry." 

I believe I have told you of the continual 
annoyance we experience from having boxes, 
packages, and goods generally, overhauled 
while coming up the river, or after they arrive 
at Kansas City. The last article looked upon 
as suspicious w\as a box containing a piano ! 
I yesterday saw" Trofessor Daniels, of Wiscon- 
sin. He informed me that while at St. Louis 
he saw several hundred men from the South, 
" armed and equipped " for Kansas 1 I think 
I shall go back to Massachusetts, for the pres- 
ent. T am heart-sick at all this fuss — and in 

18 



206 SIX MONTHS IN KANSAS. 

the spring-time, too, when everything is begin- 
ning to look so hopeful and bright for the poor 
immigrants. Ploughs are out, making furrows 
in the smooth old prairies ; while everywhere 
can be seen oxen and cows, with their noses 
close to the earth, pulUng at the young blades 
of grass. There is a great stir, too, among 
the house-builders. Everybody is busy. I 
will not believe that better days are not in 
store for this sorely-tried and badly-used peo- 
ple. Frank Pierce can't live forever- and, 
after him, we must hope and pray for a " Jo- 
seph," who can hold the reins of government 
evenly, and unite contending parties by the 
strong bond of mutual safety. 

Let me hear from you again very soon, and 
oljhgc your afFectionate daughter, 

II. A. R. 



MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS.^ 



Lawrence, K. T. Nov., 1855. 

Hon. Charles Sumner: 

My Dear /S'zr, — Waiting to-night in my 

cabin, for L and C to come in for 

their supper, L surprised me, coming in 

alone to ask if he might bring home Judge 
S. to tea; which of course was only a pleasure 
to me, if it added at all to the comfort of any 
one engaged in the wearisome work of taking 
care of this " Yankee " settlement. 

WhHe sitting at the ^^ board," L ex- 
plained to me the necessity of sending some 
person immediately to Washington; and, 
would I write to you, or any other person I 
knew there ? so that all the light possible to 
throw upon our present position might be 

* The following letters are added by particular request, as 
throwing some rays of light upon Kansas Life, not so clearly 
dctailedin the journal. I have also since learned that Mrs. 
Barbour has lost all consciousness, is dressed and fed as a child : 
her suffering is over ; her mind totally paralized. 

(207) 



208 SIX MONTHS 

given ? I can hardly refuse ; and yet I feel 
wholly unequal to, and quite out of place on 
a subject of so much importance. 

Judging from my own impressions, I fear 
you Eastern people hardly do justice to the 
patient forbearance and long suffering of 
Kansas immigrants. Here in Lawrence, no 
week has ever passed without more or less in- 
sult and contumely thrown at our people by 
our nearest neighbors, the Missourians. We 
never ride, even within our own territory, 
and meet them, but our ears are pained with 
words too wicked to repeat And they shoot 
at defenceless people with as much cool indif- 
ference as they would at partridges or prairie 
chickens. 

My poor woman's-head does not pretend to 
sift, or unravel this state of things. I am 
only cognizant of the present sad and dange- 
rous condition in which, as a town, we find 
ourselves. You who are wise and benevolent 
should be able to help us who are so defence- 
less, and so far removed from the ordinary 
means of helping ourselves. Perhaps, like 
many other " wise men," you may have unbi- 
bed the impression that Lawrence is a good- 



IN KANSAS. 209 

for-nothing fellow, always putting himself in 
the way disagreeably, or treading upon his 
neighbor's corns; if so, I wish I might be able 
to disabuse you of any such injustice. Law- 
rence is a hard-working, money-loving, mind- 
your-own-business sort of person ; who, if it 
would not pay a good profit, probably would 
not take the time or trouble to look at or 
travel into his nearest neighbor's inhospitable 
domain. Through the most of this month, 
there has been more quiet and freedom from 
annoyance, than for many a week previous. 
Elections were over; the Free-State people 
had shown themselves three to one, and the 
question seaned to be at rest. But it was a 
mere seeming, a lull before a storm. There is 
not, there has not been, a single cabin safe 
from outrage cmyivhere in the territory for the 
two past weeks. Without the slightest prov- 
ocation, men are cut down, leaving families in 
lone places without any protection ; our cat- 
tle are taken; teams of freight stopped on 
the public way, and all the merchandize 
handled over, to see what it contains. Am- 
munition withdrawn, and then the luckless 
wagoner sent on his way. Market-men, too, 

18* 



210 SIX MONTHS 

coming to bring us apples, and potatoes, and 
flour, are forbidden to proceed. Gentlemen 
whom I know and honor, some of them simply 
visitors, riding in their own carriages up from 
Kansas City, find their horses' heads seized, 
while beastly, half-drunk Missourians demand 
their business, and a pledge that they will not 
tell Lawrence people how near armed men 
are camping around them. 

It gives me pleasure to be able to afi&rm 
that I have known of no outrage exciting to 
this on the part of these poor, hard-struggling 
immigrants. I can but beUeve it to be wholly 
the result of bitter opposition to Eastern peo- 
ple, having the prospective chance of a fee- 
simple in the fair and beautiful hills and plains 
of Kansas. I see and beheve that this feeling 
has been strong enough to lead Missom^i to 
put forth her mean and treacherous hand, 
with the will to tear up by the roots every 
settlement where the southern mark is not 
stamped upon its inhabitants. 0, men of 
Congress ! where is the use of your assembhng 
together, if not for the good of those who are 
in need of your aid ? 

Last night a strong and noble specimen of 



IN KANSAS. . 211 

a man passed close by our cabin on his watch. 
I heard his cheerful voice, and the slow tramp 
of his horse, as though he did not wish to dis- 
turb our sleep, but only to assure us of safety. 
To-day, while off of duty, he is cut down as a 
butcher would an ox. Long before this 
reaches you, other victims wiU sleep their last 
sleep. Our houses are no protection. There 
is hardly a cabin which a strong man could 
not tear down. 

Let me add, as a reUef to myself, that I am 
proud of Kansas and Kansas men and women. 
They live in cabins; wear shabby clothes, 
and rusty boots; their whole appearance of- 
fends my intuitive love for whatsoever is 
beautiful, orderly, and graceful ; but the en- 
ergy, courage, good judgment, and noble mag- 
nanimity shown in these nights and days of 
danger, sweep away all antecedents. I see 
them in the majesty and power of a true and 
noble manhood. 

H. A. R. 



212 SIX MONTHS 



Lawrence, K. T., Sxn Dec, 1855. 

My Dear Mr. M., — You are very kind to 
write to me twice without hearing from me 
between-wliiles. I think I must have given 
quite a hapless picture of our condition to 
excite so much commiseration. But I made 
up my mindj when I left home^ to give the 
" outs " of Kansas life, for I felt quite sure we 
had never heard them. 

T am glad to be again able to write to you, 
and that my "old cheerful way" has come 
back with the putting on of my usual strength; 
and also, that I still have a fund of cheerful 
words for those who need them so much. 

A — has been the sickest patient, with one 
exception, I have seen. There seemed, for a 
week, almost no chance of her recovery ; and 
she is now a long, skinny animal, in whom you 
would find hard work to recognize the round- 
faced, romping little girl who was so long your 
pupil ; but there is now everything to give us 
hope that she will recover. 

E — is suffering from the badly-cooked food 
and awful accommodations of last whiter; 



IN KANSAS. 213 

added to which he has been for months a 
nurse and watchman for the sick^ and finds 
himself Hstless and easily tired out. 

The cabin is papered with many thicknesses 
of newspapers; glass has taken the place of 
cloth, for windows ; and the cotton door has 
given place to one made of walnut. It is a 
funny looking place ; and I wish, as a matter 
of mere curiosity, aside from the desire to see 
you, you could all look in and call as of old. 

So much for us, personally; which I am 
sure it has been difficult for me to come back 
to or hunt up, amid all we have to do and 
plan for. 

Long before this reaches you, the note of 
alarm will have sounded among you, and you 
will tremble for our safety. We are now a 
city under martial law. Many men are on 
guard every night ; and the unfinished hotel 
is the head-quarters of our Commander-in- 
Chief, Dr. Kobinson, where he and his aids, 
mth an armed force, sleep, and have done so 
for more than a week. Our friend General 
Pomeroy is a prisoner of war in the camp, 
six miles east of us. As soon as this was 
known, martial law was instituted. Now it 



214 SIX MONTHS 

will be known who comes and goes. So far, 
everything has been clone to defend the town; 
but not to provoke blood-shed. General Rob- 
inson grows with our needs ; and there is as 
fine a set of men now assembled as council of 
war, in the rude hotel, as could probably be 
gathered in any state in the Union. Young 
men of education, who, had they remained in 
old towns and cities, would have passed through 
Hfe as agreeable, refined, literary men, of mid- 
ling rank in some profession — transplanted 
here — stripped of all the appointments of 
effeminacy — pushed to exertion, with the 
penalty of starvation affixed — driven, by Mis- 
sourians, to stand up tall, or be run down — to 
fire, or be shot — how can they help putting 
forth new powers? There is still another 
class here — men of the wisdom which comes 
even to the stupid, with age — whom the turn- 
ing of the wheel of fortune has left ^oor. 
They renew life in this new state of things. 
Ministers of the gospel, even, are in the ranks 
to-day, at the drill. Gray hairs float in the 
breeze over furrowed brows, mounted on 
horses that show they have come a long jour- 
ney from farther up the country. L. brought 



IN KANSAS. 215 

home one with him, to partake of our cabin 
fare^ who came here from New Jersey, and 
now Uves at Leavenworth. Perhaps I may as 
well add, for the amusement of your girls, 
that they took refreshment from a walnut 
board, made into a cross-legged table, pushed, 
for want of room, half way under the shelf 
where I keep my dishes. The tea was from 
Mr. Kendall's store at home, which the gen- 
tleman pronomiced the best he had tasted in 
the territory, and gave me the better proof 
by handing his cup many times to be filled. 
In the midst of all this, I ask L. if there is 
danger of famine. He replies, with his merry 
laugh, "One hundred bushels of corn were 
ground last night." One man, who fastens 
his horse at our stand, told me he should 
have four thousand bushels of corn from his 
claim. So you can see that we can stand 
something of a seige. 

To-day, Gov. Shannon and Gen. Robinson 
are trying to make peace on some satisfactory 
terms to all parties. I am no politician, do 
not understand the ground of our offence, and 
cannot give you properly the results. 

Tell D. the " shake-down " provided for him 
has rarely been vacant at all. h. a. r. 



216 SIX M0NTH8 



Lawrence, K. T., 5th Feb., 1856. 

My Dear Mrs. M., — I always like to think 
there is a time for all things which we ought 
to do, or that it is our lawful pleasure to do ; 
so, very many times in the autumn, after your 
very kind note, I said to myself, " the day or 
hour to give to Mrs. M. must be hereabouts." 
But the close-crowding of things to be done 
for some one, made it quite impossible for me 
to give aught to you and very many other 
friends, except long periods of thought, while 
watching in silence over the sick, or gomg 
through the routine of cabm house-keeping. 

Our cabin is fifteen feet square, with a nice 
room over it. Our common clothing hangs 
over the walls, around the comers appropriated 
to our beds. Opposite these ojoens tlie door, 
at the right side of wliich are shelves of black 
walnut, very roughly put up, for dishes, and 
a table of the same beautiful wood. On the 
left side are arranged the materials for cook- 
ing ; while pendant from the beams overhead, 
hang, in curious proximity, venison, beef, the 
potato-basket, bags for beans, nice dried- 



IN KANSAS. 21*7 

apple, and patches, together with work- 
baskets. 

The earth, everywhere where the turf is 
off, is the blackest and richest of garden-loam. 
When moistened by rain or heavy dew, it be- 
comes like ink and flower. This, applied with 
many feet to the cotton boards, creates a 
decidedly brown color, which no person, after a 
week's experience, would ever attempt to re- 
move with any other implement than a 
broom. 

For a new country, this is surprisingly well 
provided with a variety of food. We get very 
fine, large apples in the fall, for a dollar a 
bushel; sweet potatoes, for a quarter more. 
These things are brought fifty miles, over deep 
ravines which would quite frighten you to 
look into. 

The west portion of Missouri is mostly in- 
habited with a partially civilized race, fifty 
years behind you in all manner of improve- 
ments. In November a wagon load of thirty 
bushels of apples, none of which would meas- 
ure less than a pint bowl, and one of which 
could hardly be stowed in a pie, were sold in 
this market at the price just mentioned. 

19 



218 SIX MONTHS 

They were a red-striped apple, somewhat like 
the "Baldwin" in appearance. The taste of all 
this fruit is pecuhar ; and though they vary 
in color, size and value, this flavor in a degree 
pervades them all. Another noticeable fact 
is their total freedom from worms. Much of 
this fruit is raised by the Indians of this Ter- 
ritory. The hard-working immigrants have, 
even during this first summer of their new 
life, raised an abundance of potatoes, squashes, 
pumpkins, tomatoes, together with a large 
amount of corn. We bought for our cow, 
pumpkins for nine shillings a hundred. Some 
of these things grow to an immense size. 
Squashes weighing from a hundred to a hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. A — says, one she saw 
at the hotel was large enough for a cradle. 
Corn-meal has sold at the same price of ap- 
ples. It is very much nicer than any I ever 
saw before — sweet, dehcate, as white as rice. 
A hot corn-cake never leaves a crumb to tell 
of its existence. The meats of the country 
are cheap, compared with Eastern prices. 
Flour is high, and never of the best quality. 
Butter poor, and thirty cents a pound. Milk, 
ten cents a quart, two thirds of the year. 



IN KANSAS. 219 

Every advantage is taken of the necessities of 
new comers. 

You will perceive that I have taken you 
back to the months of Autumn, the date and 
subject of your letter. Half the time, too, 
(and I am sure you will excuse it) it has 
seeemed as I wTite, as though I was talking to 
your father, whose love for moral and politi- 
cal economy, in connection wdth every por- 
tion of his country, seems to reach and ani- 
mate me. 

You will hear, by other ways, of the neces- 
sary guard about our ill-fated little town. All 
that serves us now is the severity of cold 
winter weather and the deep snow, still drop- 
ping steadily; as though, in the absence of 
all pity in Congress, and all help from good 
men in the States, it would cover us securely 
with its shroud-hke mantle. 

How kind it is of you, to remember so 
constantly one whose life is almost too broken 
to come in the range of what you see and 
hear. H. a. r. 



Elm Hall, Brookline, May 20, 185C. 
To J. M. ^V^ Esq., 

Independence, Mo. 

My Dear Sir, — I have not forgotten the 
promise I made, to send yon a paper from 
Boston, as a token of our safe arrival home. 
I suppose an apology will seem to you very 
much in want of another to cover it, when I 
say, — all the papers I read contained some 
items of intelligence about your State which 
it did not seem courteous for me to place 
upon your table. 

Could I have given them to you personally, 
I dare say we should have talked the contents 
over as kindly and rationally as we did the 
same subject during those long, quiet, sunny 
days when together we "steamed" down your 
beautifully wide and grand old river. 

Our party of returning emigrants had just 
come out from under the weight of evil 
foreboding, which rested alike upon everybody 
in Kansas. We gave ourselves up to the 
beauty of river-journeying and the pleasant 

(220) 



IN KANSAS. 221 

society of your excursion-party of Missou- 
rians. 

Almost always, in looking back, we discover 
more to mourn over than to rejoice in. Our 
self-gratulation is at the escapes we make from 
wrong, rather than the positive good we do. 
But this journey along the turbid waters of 
the Missouri, and subsequently in the cars to 
Indianapolis, the kindness we received, the 
good feeling expressed by you and most cer- 
tainly felt by us, keep that week of adventure 
pleasantly green and fresh in my memory. 

It was a phase of Missouri character quite 
unlike the brutal specimens we had seen and 
lived in constant fear of for a long winter, 
and compelled me almost into the belief that 
I had awakened from the horrors of the nightr 
mare. And had there been no new outrage 
to remind us of what we had suffered from 
our cruel neighbors, that source of suffering 
would in time have been wholly forgotten, 
or remembered only as the result of misap- 
prehension on the part of your people. 

I am sorry now that I did not write to you 
immediately after my return home. I should 
have had so many pleasant things to say. My 

19* 



222 SIX MONTHS 

faith in the race was quickened into new life 
by our friendly conversations. I now remem- 
ber them sadly^ as numbered with many other 
states of the strongest trust in man^ — passed 
away to return no more. 

i Now, I wish to remind you of graphic de- 
scriptions given by different members of our 
party, of Kansas. Let me take you by the 
hand and go with you to the thrifty Httle 
town of Lawrence. Dear little village of 
cabins! a petted "Benjamin" to those of us 
who are no longer young. Stand outside my 
cabin, and look with me and listen. The sun 
sinks down with a train of glory never sur- 
passed in any country. Many cabins nestle 
close to the ground before you, and hundreds 
of people trace their way to their own, busy 
with their own thoughts, plans and purposes 
for the future. 

The laborer places away his hod, his trowel 
and his hammer. He sings as he plods along, 
for his work is done and his supper is ready. 
How still the place is, broken now only by 
the distant tinkle of the cow-bell. Night un- 
folds her tentrlike curtain of darkness. Lis- 
ten ! " while he, the man of prayer, commends 



SIX MONTHS 223 

to God the weary here;" across the stillness 
floats his voice, subdued with reverence, and 
earnest with thanksgiving and supplication. 
He asks that " those who wait to shed inno- 
cent blood may be forgiven, and that the 
hearts of unfeeling strangers may be turned 
towards us." He gives thanks for returning 
Spring. We return to our poor cabins full of 
peace. 

— The last month of spring is come. Hope 
springs anew in hearts almost broken. The 
hotel is finished. Strangers now have a home 
in good earnest, for there never was a more 
hospitable landlord than Mr. Eldridge. Take 
heart, little city of immigrants, " for the time 
for the singing of birds is come," and you are 
not destroyed. — The last week of spring is 
here, and where, alas ! is the little defenceless 
town ? 

What a boiling, surging chaldron your Mis- 
souri must be, to pour over a scum of robbers 
and assassins so often into a neighboring terri- 
tory! Surely, after such a clarifying, there 
ought to remain an element clear, strong, and 
powerful, to work righteousness, justice, and 
mercy. If there is any such element, it seems 



224 SIX MONTHS 

to be hid and useless ; else it would come to 
our rescue. 

Stretching along the north side of Lawrence, 
sweeps the Kansas River, making an impassible 
barrier between us and om' friends, the Dele- 
ware Indians. Our southern limit is walled in 
by Mount Oread; upon the top of which 
stretches a dark line of Missourians. On the 
same highland is the house of Gov. Robinson ; 
and midway from its base stands the unfinished 
church. East and west you will see a still 
more fearful army of armed men. Sweeping 
across the prairies, too, are groups of horsemen. 
Fastened in the town are tents of United 
States troops. All this parade is against us ! 
incredible as it seems. What w^e have done, 
to be thus proscribed by Missouri, and, worse 
than all, unheeded by our President, it will 
certainly take the crooked head of a states- 
man to unravel. I wiUingly leave it to you 
lawyers. We, who suffer from this protracted 
apprehension, know very well what the sensa- 
tion is. History will take account of the facts, 
in this unparalleled confusion of ricjU and 
urong. History wdll immortalize the brave 
and true men who had the courage to give 



IN KANSAS. 225 

up their arms and surrender, when successful 
resistance to outrage was no longer possible. 
But only the "Eecording Angel" keeps a 
truthful reckoning of the pitiful cry from the 
hopeless, despairing women, and frightened, 
bewildered children. 

Sheriffs Jones and Donaldson ate of our 
bread and drank of our cup, and then. Judas- 
like, straightway went forth to destroy us. 

The brave boy, who stood by us and gave 
them welcome, now sees, for the second time, 
his cabm destroyed by your people. God only 
knows if his hfe is spared. His last words 
to me were: "Mother, go back to Boston; 
I never knew how to value the laws of old 
Massachusetts till I came out here. Never 
you fear for me, mother -, I must stand in my 
lot. Shouldn't you be ashamed of me if I 
went away?" And the answer was, "Yes, 

IHY SON." 

Now I perceive more fully the rare wisdom 
of this boy-man. 

On the 22d of May, your mob closed in 
around our Httle town. Spider-like, they 
wove thek web of destruction. 

For two weeks, the most intense anxiety 



226 SIX MONTHS 

and fear have worn out the strength and 
hearts of our people. After midnight, when, 
if ever, the weary watcher falls asleep, there 
is a startling, wolf-hke whoop, penetrating 
every soul of man, woman or child, and they 
spring to their feet. Day has not yet da^\Tied; 
but through the dim Hght preceding morning, 
may be seen the approaching army of mad- 
men. Some little show of order is preserved, 
while a few more sham arrests are made — 
thus to secure all the leading men of the 
town. This done, all houses are broken into ; 
everything of value stolen; all left behind, 
unsuitable to move, broken up. The next 
step was to assemble in Massachusetts Street, 
front of the hotel, with cannon. On the op- 
posite side of the street stood a cabin, occupied 
by Mr. Brown, editor of the " Herald of Free- 
dom ; " and in the rear of the cabin, a fine 
stone building, three stories high, built, under 
great difficulty, and just finished, for a printing 
office. Close at the side of the hotel stood 
another cabin, occupied by Mrs. Wood, a 
beautiful young woman, wife of D. N. Wood, 
who is a prisoner. A printing office joined 
this cabin. In the centre of these proscribed 



IN KANSAS. 227 

buildings were placed the cannon, and charge 
followed charge upon the strong stone hotel. 
The sturdy walls looked cooly at the fuss and 
noise, but did not move nor tremble. Now 
platoons fired at the windows of it. The 
sheriff refused any time, or aid, to remove 
women or children. This hotel had been 
built as a pleasant home for strangers; and 
also as a place of safety to all of us in the 
time of danger. But now, in the utmost 
terror, these people flee from it, and from the 
sheriff and his posse. Along the banks of the 
river they run wildly, creeping into deep 
ravines to hide from the fury of the drunken 
men. 

Dear little children — God help them ! What 
compensation can life ever give to atone for 
this page of awful reality ? 

My dear sir, you have but to imagine your 
own ivife and heaidifiil loy among these exiles, 
to give force to the picture, and stir aright 
your sympathy. This wrong cries aloud — 
by blood, rapine, and robbery — to just Heaven 
for redress. In my humble opinion there is 
no page of history so revolting as this ; and 
the wounds are doubly bitter because they 
come from a sister state. 



228 SIX MONTHS 

After placing powder in the cellar, the hotel 
surrendered. The printing presses were laid 
to rest in the river ; and at last the post office 
gave up its honored credentials of office to 
those hired assassins of that most unmitigated 
cakimitij Heaven ever suffered upon the earth 
— Franklin Pierce. 

We who have escaped alive are in painful 
uncertainty of the small notes in this sad 
history. Some of us have risked our all in 
that territory, and lost all. Our sons, if liv- 
ing, may now be hungry and naked ; yet we 
have no power to reach and succor them. 

The walls of this pleasant chamber have 
seemed like a prison, as, in the hours when 
others sleep, I walk up and down it; while 
every thought and affection overleaps your 
truly dreadful State, to stoop, in tearful sym- 
pathy, over the forsaken, djdng Lawrence. 

I open the blinds, and look forth for the 
early morning, "v/hen the day begins to 
dawn ;" but my thoughts will not come home. 
I now remember, and enter into the states of 
those women of old, who stood at the cross 
and the sepulchre weeping, and to whom was 
given the voice of hope and consolation, in 



IN KANSAS. 229 

these words: ^^He is not here, but risen!" 

Thought goes back a page farther in the 
old history, when two women wept over the 
grave of their only brother, and Jesus, stand- 
ing by, " wept " also. He did not give us the 
example of expending all his sympathy in 
tears; no ! ^^With a loud voice he said, ^Laz- 
arus, come forth ! ' " 

Lawrence is dead ! but as surely as there is 
justice in Heaven, this death by violence, 
wholly unprovoked, will be avenged. As sure- 
ly as there are disciples of Jesus still doing his 
work on the earth, so surely shall this martyr- 
dom become the seed of a true church, to 
lighten the heathen world about it. 

Lawrence shall hear the words, spoken by 
the up-rising better nature of man, saying, 
^'come forth I" and the glory of the newly- 
built city shall far surpass the degredation of 
its present ruin. 

I do not ask you to excuse the sorry words 
dropping from my pen. I hold you still by 
the hand, and, as your superior in years, de- 
mand your rational attention. You are young, 
earnest, and honest. I believe you truly de- 
ftiire to do what is right. 

20 



230 SIX MONTHS 

Lawrence is dead ! toll the bells all over 
your State, for the skirts of your garments 
are dripping with blood. This is murder, delib- 
erately planned, and coolly carried out. Which 
of you did it ? You are a citizen of Missouri. 
Call your people together, and charge the 
deed where it belongs. There is restitution 
to be made. 

As a State, pray try the experiment for 
once, of high minded magnanimity. If there 
is anywhere within your precints a record of 
Jewish Laws, originally written upon "two 
tables of stone," and, by common consent, 
called " The Ten Commandments " — if the 
words of Jesus, " a new commandment give I 
unto you, that ye love one another," are to 
to be found within your territory — take them 
before your "wise men," for action. Your 
people have outraged society by the crimes of 
murder, arson, and robbery. No power of 
yours can give us back the slain ! Our great 
Master gives us the prayer to meet your case, 
and we will use it always when we remember 
you: "Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do." 

The houses you have burnt you can rebuild j 



IN KANSAS. 231 

and the goods you have stolen, you can re- 
store. You as a State, are rich and strong; we 
were poor and weak, and from us you have 
taken the Httle that we had. We went to 
Kansas to make homes ; and violated no law 
by so doing. We do not intend to give up 
the plan of remaining; and when you are bet- 
ter acquainted mth us proscribed Yankees, 
your animosity will have passed away. Hop- 
ing that you will be able and wiUing to re- 
deem your name from dishonor among the 
States, I remain yours very truly, 

H. A. R. 



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